Ask an Expert: What Is Free Speech?

This is “Ask an Expert,” a special mini-series where our constitutional experts answer your civil rights and civil liberties questions. For our first edition, we are diving deep into Free Speech, and talking to expert Ben Wizner, the Director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology project.

Free Speech is widely considered the bedrock of democracy, but still, many Americans feel both conflicted and confused by what actually constitutes free speech, what we can say, where we can say it, and who can stop us.

We have been sourcing free speech questions from you over email, social media, and our phone line. We’ve sorted through the questions and categorized them into a few episodes. On today’s episode, we’re getting back to the basics with Free Speech 101 addressing hate speech, misinformation, government regulation of corporate speech, cancel culture, and why we defend free speech.