Though it’s tempting to ‘solve’ Dangerous Speech by making it a crime, laws punishing speech are all too often misused, restricting legitimate expression without inhibiting speech that is harmful. Indeed countries across the world are now using the real dangers of terrorism and hatred to pass vague or overbroad new laws against speech online.
Read MoreIt seems inconceivable that a head of state would say he aspires to kill his own people on the same scale as Hitler, but the Philippines’ new president did just that. Three months into his six-year presidency, Rodrigo Duterte said he would be “happy” to “slaughter” three million drug addicts. He has also called President Obama a “son of a bitch” and even joked that he should have been “first” in the gang rape and murder of an Australian missionary in Davao City (where he was mayor for 22 years) in 1989.
Read MoreMuch of the world is transfixed at present by Donald Trump’s often insulting and provocative language. But like any speech, it can only be fully understood in context – which now includes remarks more belligerent and shocking than Trump’s, from his supporters who have shouted “Kill her” and “Build the wall – kill them all” at recent Trump rallies, and from other elected officials such as governors of U.S. states.
Read MoreProject Director Susan Benesch took part in two major events on incitement in February.
Read MoreAfter months of vicious inflammatory speech, Cote d’Ivoire is exploding. Today there are battles in the main city of Abidjan, including…
Read MoreSoon after Jared Loughner shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in the head on Saturday, an Arizona sheriff suggested that inflammatory speech…
Read MoreBoth Pakistan and Venezuela are using spurious claims about dangerous speech and violent images as a pretext for censorship, to…
Read MoreThe referendum went peacefully yesterday in Kenya, and the Constitution passed, by 67 percent according to the latest results. This…
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