Restricting free speech in the name of liberty fuels illiberalism, says Jacob Mchangama of Justitia, a Danish think-tank
“Freedom of expression has its limits. Those limits begin where hatred is spread … where the dignity of other people is violated.”
So said Angela Merkel in a speech to the Bundestag last November. The German chancellor grew up under a communist dictatorship and leads a country where vicious propaganda once paved the way for genocide. So few people have stronger credentials when it comes to balancing the pros and cons of free speech. And she is not the only democratic leader concerned about extremism. French President Emmanuel Macron has worried that the internet is becoming a “threat” to democracy.
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