Freedom of Speech, But Only For Some

Freedom of speech, a universal human right, is seemingly under attack in numerous countries. Nowhere is this issue more present than in the United States, a nation founded based on the voice of the opposition. Yet, it seems that we are moving backwards.

Freedom of speech, in its earliest form, was practiced during the time of the Ancient Greeks. Aside from democracy, architecture, the Olympics, and the famous Gods and Goddesses, Ancient Greece is responsible for many modern governmental and philosophical ideas. In modern times, we understand freedom of speech as defined by Article 19 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, protecting “the right to freedom of opinion and expression…without interference…” Yet, as we have recently seen in the United States and all over the world, freedom of speech has not always been without interference. 

Fig. 1: Free Speech is Important, but not Many Have it. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/04/24/free-expression-seen-as-important-globally-but-not-everyone-thinks-their-country-has-press-speech-and-internet-freedoms/. 

In the United States, President Trump has launched a series of threats against institutions, people, communities, and even late-night talk shows. One does not need to look deep into the news to see that the cornerstone of American democracy (the First Amendment) is threatened. Recently, President Trump received over $30 million in combined settlements from Paramount Global and Disney in response to lawsuits brought against them for their reporting. Furthermore, President Trump has even acted against the often right-leaning Wall Street Journal and threatened to revoke the citizenship of comedian Rosie O’Donnell, former Trump advisor and friend Elon Musk, and popular New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. This, coupled with the defunding of NPR, PBS, and even Harvard University, should raise alarms for many people. Freedom of speech, seemingly, is crumbling right in front of us.

It is important to note that censorship exists across partisan lines. We saw the rise of censorship and attempts to crack down on misinformation during the former presidency of Joe Biden, with Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, stating that Facebook was “pressured” to censor misinformation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it was clear that the Biden White House worked to combat misinformation, whereas the Trump White House sought to discredit accurate information or criticism. 

In the age of social media, where a single tweet can mislead millions, misinformation is a constant threat. On a personal level, there is a need to restrict the misinformation spread on social media. Combined with hate speech intended to promote violence, there needs to be some type of regulation, regardless of partisanship, race, gender, religion, or sexuality. Given the size of the media landscape, there is no limit to what happens when an entire population is misinformed. 

However, citizens must answer important questions about monitoring misinformation. For example, when and how should the government intervene? Should there be a nonpartisan agency that monitors misinformation? What does this do for privacy and data laws? And most importantly, would this violate a human right? 

Freedom of speech is vital to democracies. If historical trends mean anything, it is reasonable to say that suppression of speech is straight out of a fascist playbook. With fascism often comes a dictator. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, professor of history at New York University, urges us to view the parallels and connect the dots. Writing for CNN, Ben-Ghiat laments that President Trump has praised numerous authoritarian leaders (Putin, Hitler, Erdogan) because the praise “...should be understood as part of a re-education strategy: conditioning Americans to see authoritarianism as a superior form of government to democracy”. 

Fig. 2: Is Trump a Dictator? https://www.axios.com/2025/04/29/prri-poll-most-americans-trump-dangerous-dictator. 

Should we be worried about our freedom of speech? Sadly, there is cause for concern. However, the only way to keep pushing for freedom of speech is to keep exercising it. To support journalists, read books, listen to podcasts, and digest other forms of media. Freedom of speech is powerful, and with great power comes great responsibility. After all, we may not all have red capes, but we sure have superpowers: our voice.

Works Cited

Al Jazeera. “Trump Administration Bars Wall Street Journal from Trip Amid Epstein Spat.” July 22, 2025. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/22/trump-administration-bars.

Ben-Ghiat, Ruth. “Trump’s Praise of Dictators Tells Us All We Need to Know.” CNN. March 14, 2024. https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/14/opinions/trump-dictators.html. 

Contreras, Russell. “Most Americans see Trump as 'Danger Dictator’,” Poll Says.” AXIOS. April 29, 2025. https://www.axios.com/2025/04/29/prri-poll-most-americans-trump-dangerous.

Covington, Dennis. “On Truth Telling and Dictatorship.” The American Scholar. October 31, 2017. https://theamericanscholar.org/on-truth-telling-and-dictatorship/. 

Folkenflik, David. “How Bipartisan Support for Public Media Unraveled in the Trump Era.” NPR. July 18, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/07/18/nx-s1-5469920/pbs-npr-funding-rescission. 

James, Meg. “After CBS and ABC’s Trump Settlements, Democrats Want to Curb Presidential Library Gifts. Los Angeles Times. July 16, 2025. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2025-07-16/cbs-abc-trump-payouts. 

Legal Information Institute. “First Amendment.” Accessed July 22, 2025. https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/first_amendment.  

Lin, Herbert, and Marshall Van Alstyne. “Should the Government Regulate Social Media?” Divided We Fall. May 18, 2022. https://dividedwefall.org/should-the-government-regulate-social-media/.

Makuch, Ben. “US Free-Speech Rights Shredded Despite Trump Vow to be First-Amendment Champion.” The Guardian. June 19, 2025. 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/19/us-free-speech-rights-trump. 

PBS News. “Zuckerberg Says the White House Pressured Facebook to 'Censor' Some COVID-19 Content During the Pandemic.” August 27, 2024. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/zuckerberg-says-the-white-house-pressured-facebook. 

Poushter, Jacob, Maria Smerkovich, Moira Fagan, and Andrew Prozorovsky. “Free Expression Seen as Important Globally, but Not Everyone Thinks Their Country Has Press, Speech and Internet Freedoms.” PEW Research Center. April 24, 2025. https://pewrsr.ch/42LKUDC. 

Uribe, Maria Ramirez. “Fact-Checking Trump’s Threat to Take Away Rosie O’Donnell’s U.S. Citizenship.” PBS News. July 16, 2025. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/fact-checking-trumps-threat. 

United Nations. “Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” Accessed July 22, 2025. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights. 

Vile, John. “Use of Military to Quell Protests, Civil Disturbances.” Free Speech Center. June 23, 2025. https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/use-of-military-to-quell-protests.