FIRE

July 10, 2026 A recent records request revealed that a Canadian government department is working up a potential new federal strategy on misinformation. But the section explaining what “legal action” would be taken against misinformation, and either the users posting it or the platforms hosting it, is obscured by a large black bar.

This is part of a weekly series on AI and free speech. The most important decisions about our lives can turn on factors ranging from unfair to downright absurd. In medieval England, a criminal facing the gallows could save their neck by reciting Psalm 51 from memory — a literacy test meant to identify clergy that became a famous loophole for accused commoners.

AI won't replace democracy. But it could help far more people take part in it. July 7, 2026 Congressman Robert Garcia answers a question from a resident during a town hall meetings in Long Beach, California, on Aug. 23, 2023. Chloe Ratner is a political science major at Yale University. Last summer, she worked at the Department of Justice Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section.

July 7, 2026 FIRE plaintiffs Adriana Novoa and Sam Rechek Court rules that Florida professors are not mouthpieces for the government and that the ‘Stop WOKE Act’ violates the First Amendment. Ruling rejects Florida’s attempt to enact a “speech ban on all public college and university professors,” protects academic freedom and free inquiry on campus. Court: “The ideas Florida targets may well be noxious. Or maybe not.

July 6, 2026 For nearly four decades, students in America’s public schools have experienced a straightjacketed version of the First Amendment. That’s due to the Supreme Court’s Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier decision. School administrators — who are government officials — have used Hazelwood to censor student expression, often prioritizing the school’s reputation over student voices.

July 6, 2026 ROCHESTER, N.Y., July 6, 2026 — The freedom to criticize law enforcement without fear of punishment is an essential right in the United States. In fact, it’s one of the things that separates our free nation from a police state. But officials at the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement don't seem to understand this.

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville claims it believes in free speech, but its administrators are disparaging the student press. July 2, 2026 By Dylan Hembrough, The Alestleeditor-in-chief The pattern of baselessly discrediting the press to justify refusing to speak to them is familiar to most by now. But I’m not talking about the U.S. federal government. I’m talking about Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

July 2, 2026 They could have died. We forget that now. After appeals to history and self-evident truths and the long train of abuses and usurpations, the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to a cause that was not certain. To an idea as radical as their revolution. To a notion of a nation yet to be built. The United States could have died. The might of the British Empire was pressing in on the mid-Atlantic.

Plus: Allegations of censorship at American ambassador’s event July 2, 2026 "Grundgesetz 49" installation by Dani Karavan displays Article 5 of the German Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and freedom of the arts and sciences. FIRE’s Free Speech Dispatch covers new and continuing censorship trends and challenges around the world. Our goal is to help readers better understand the global context of free expression. Want to make sure you don’t miss an update?

July 1, 2026 This is the third article in a weekly series on AI and Free Speech. You can read the first article explaining why the First Amendment is so important in the age of AI here. In February 2024, FIRE President and CEO Greg Lukianoff took a short walk from our D.C. office to Capitol Hill to testify before the House Judiciary Committee.