Jacob Mchangama in conversation with Jeffrey Howard - Gower Street

Join us for a fascinating conversation examining free speech's global decline and a framework for preserving expression in democratic societies.

Jacob Machangama will be in conversation with Jeffrey Howard author of Setting Fire to Reason: The Ethics of Free Speech

This book examines the backlash against free speech from all sides: governments criminalizing dissent in the name of national security; lawmakers and activists demanding tighter controls on misinformation, hate speech, and offensive content; and AI systems removing speech at a scale and speed that dwarfs historical forms of censorship. At the same time, faith in free speech itself is waning, even in the very societies that once championed it.

The Future of Free Speech argues for a reinvigorated, global commitment to open dialogue. Mchangama advocates nonpartisan, civic-minded solutions that resist both government overreach and corporate silencing offering a compelling case for how free speech can meet modern challenges without abandoning its foundational role in sustaining democracy, human rights, and shared understanding.

Jacob Mchangama is the founder and executive director of The Future of Free Speech and a research professor at Vanderbilt University. He is the author of Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media.

Jeffrey Howard is a philosopher at University College London, where he is Professor of Political Philosophy & Public Policy and the founding Director of the Digital Speech Lab. He is Co-Editor of the journal Political Philosophy.

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Host or Publisher Waterstones