Member-only story
Free Speech or Hate Speech? The Line Nobody Can Agree On
The debate that refuses to die
Who has the right to free speech? And when does that speech become hate speech? And when it becomes hate speech, how is it regulated?
In a world that seems to be becoming ever more polarized, the above questions are appearing more often in news and social media content. Individuals on every side of the free speech/hate speech debate are also becoming much more forceful in their advocacy for their preferred stance on the issue.
But as with many things now, the issues of how free and hate speech are defined, as well as how they are protected or prosecuted, are complex. The most difficult part of this debate is how few of its participants might truly understand the definitions and legal standards involved.
What do the terms “free” and “hate” speech even mean?
Many of the current debates center on what “free speech” actually is, and what makes any kind of speech “hate speech.”
The first thing to understand about both of these types of speech is that we live in a globally connected world, and not all countries have the same cultural and legal definitions for speech. In the United States, the First Amendment of the Constitution “proclaims…
