My guest this time is
, executive vice president at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), director of the 2020 documentary Mighty Ira, which profiles the longtime head of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the author of a forthcoming book on the triumph of civil libertarians.He's also the host of the popular podcast So to Speak, which takes an "uncensored look at the world of free expression through the law, philosophy, and stories that define your right to free speech." I talk with him about the Biden administration's rotten record on speech issues, his hopes and fears for President Donald Trump's second term, and why he worries that, when it comes to speech, Elon Musk is "suffering from the curse of power, which is censorship."
Here are the topics we cover. Click above to start watching or listening immediately, or scroll down for links to the YouTube, Apple, Spotify (audio+video), and SoundCloud versions.
As always, let me know what you think—and please check out Reason, where all my work appears.
0:00- Introduction
1:29- Biden administration's record on free speech
8:22- Internal and external pressures on tech platforms to censor
11:00- Double standards on free speech
12:19- Will speech be freer under Trump than Biden?
18:49- The TikTok 'ban' & DeepSeek AI
28:23- Elon Musk: friend or foe to free speech? 31:10- Free speech culture
36:00- What was 'cancel culture'?
39:22- Institutional neutrality and campus speech post-Oct 7
46:43- Generational attitude shifts on free speech
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