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Publication day! AUTHORITARIANS IN THE ACADEMY is officially out. Thanks to everyone, especially my colleagues at @TheFIREorg and my publisher @JHUPress, who helped me get this from an idea to a draft to a finished book. It’s available for purchase now.
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Sarah McLaughlin retweeted
I was on a panel hosted by @TheFIREorg, together with @kmele, @sarahemclaugh, and @mmasnick, talking about the foreign censorship threat.
expression.fire.org/p/episode-iv-b…
expression.fire.org/p/episode-iv-b…
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What’s the latest in global censorship? New Free Speech Dispatch covers:
- Palestine Action fallout
- severe sentences in Hong Kong, Macau
- journalist jailed for “dick” jokes
- writer CJ Hopkins fined for tweets
- blasphemy death sentences
Read it here: open.substack.com/pub/thefireorg…
- Palestine Action fallout
- severe sentences in Hong Kong, Macau
- journalist jailed for “dick” jokes
- writer CJ Hopkins fined for tweets
- blasphemy death sentences
Read it here: open.substack.com/pub/thefireorg…
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Sarah McLaughlin retweeted
The default position in democratic Europe is now to blame every bad thing on the Internet and insist that government regulation of speech is the answer. This will not end well.
Polish PM Donald Tusk:
It is time for the internet, the virtual space, to be treated with the utmost seriousness.
What happens in the virtual world influences people's minds and actions just as strongly, and sometimes even more strongly, than what happens in the real world.
illegal in real life must also be prohibited and eliminated from the virtual world.
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Michel Houellebecq is under investigation for 2022 comments about Islam and France. Free societies *must* allow people to discuss sensitive issues without legal threats hanging over them. His lawyers are right: this does not belong in court.
Challenge speech. Don’t prosecute it.
Challenge speech. Don’t prosecute it.
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Sarah McLaughlin retweeted
15-year-old Rahile Omer was detained by China in March 2018 for being Uyghur and placed in a political re-education camp. After an unjust 12-year sentence, she reportedly died in prison at age 23. trib.al/Ni9nRT2
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Sarah McLaughlin retweeted
Join us Thursday for a conversation with @sarahemclaugh of @TheFIREorg, author of Authoritarians in the Academy.
Topics will include borderless censorship, democratic backsliding and freedom of speech.
x.com/i/spaces/1onzP…
Topics will include borderless censorship, democratic backsliding and freedom of speech.
x.com/i/spaces/1onzP…
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Sarah McLaughlin retweeted
Macao sentenced its most prominent democracy advocate & ex-lawmaker, Au Kam San, to a shocking 12.5 years in prison on baseless national security charges, days after Hong Kong sentenced its best known democracy leader, Joshua Wong, to 10 years: hrw.org/news/2026/11/0…
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Sarah McLaughlin retweeted
Threatening reporters with physical removal if they violate a vague standard of being “out of line” has no place in a free society, much less a nation with a First Amendment. Officials don’t have to answer questions, but they can’t physically eject reporters who ask unfriendly Qs
At Pete Hegseth’s briefing this morning, an official came out to tell reporters that if anyone "gets out of line" they will be "removed physically." Reporters shouted back "what does that mean?" Official said it meant to maintain "decorum" and added he was just relaying orders.
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Sarah McLaughlin retweeted
The Atlantic's latest cover story is really a must-read—for parents, obviously, but also for anyone who has deeper questions about location tracking and what it is doing to us societally.
Excellent writing from @sarahzhang. Plus very clever art from Miguel Porlan:
Excellent writing from @sarahzhang. Plus very clever art from Miguel Porlan:
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Sarah McLaughlin retweeted
It's just adult websites, do you want kids watching porn?
It's just social media, do you want kids being bullied?
It's just ... ebay and depop?
Yeah. Age verification was obviously never going to stop at the "bad" stuff and soon we're all going to be carded to buy used books
It's just social media, do you want kids being bullied?
It's just ... ebay and depop?
Yeah. Age verification was obviously never going to stop at the "bad" stuff and soon we're all going to be carded to buy used books
Carded before shopping on eBay? That could be a reality in the U.K. reason.com/2026/11/09/u-k…
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Sarah McLaughlin retweeted
Insulting Mao Zedong can come at a steep price. Just ask @KMbappe.
Some offer groveling apologies to protect their bottom line. Others end up in prison.
@sarahemclaugh examines the consequences of speaking out in this week’s update:
open.substack.com/pub/greglukian…
Some offer groveling apologies to protect their bottom line. Others end up in prison.
@sarahemclaugh examines the consequences of speaking out in this week’s update:
open.substack.com/pub/greglukian…
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Sarah McLaughlin retweeted
Big week for national security in Asia. Everyone feeling safer no doubt.
Thailand: Bans a textbook about the country.
Hong Kong: Sentences Josh Wong to 10 years, arrests man for importing books.
Macau: Sentences Au Kam San to 12.5 years
Thailand: Bans a textbook about the country.
Hong Kong: Sentences Josh Wong to 10 years, arrests man for importing books.
Macau: Sentences Au Kam San to 12.5 years
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Sarah McLaughlin retweeted
Honestly, it's just heartbreaking to see China imposing more jail on Joshua Wong--precisely in the hopes that the world forgets about him. And yet he is guilty of nothing, it is those who jail him and many others like him who are, in fact, most unfree. We will not forget
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In Philly for @TheFIREorg’s Soapbox conference? Join me, @ENBrown, @PNikmand, and Brendan O’Neill tomorrow for a conversation about the global fight for free speech. Hope to see you there!
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Sarah McLaughlin retweeted
Outrageously cruel 10-year sentence against #HongKong activist Joshua Wong. Wong’s been detained since he was 23, and now he won’t get out until he’s 40–that’s if they don’t keep heaping more prison time on him. Relentless repression in HK. hrw.org/news/2026/11/0…
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Sarah McLaughlin retweeted
Joshua Wong, face of Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests, jailed for 10 years bbc.in/4BIzgdp
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Sarah McLaughlin retweeted
For athletes and companies abroad, the consequences may be financial. For those who criticize Mao inside China, the consequences can mean prison.
expression.fire.org/p/after-insult…
expression.fire.org/p/after-insult…
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Sarah McLaughlin retweeted
A joke about Mao Zedong cost soccer star Kylian Mbappé millions in sponsorships and sparked a wave of apologies.
But the implications go well beyond one athlete.
When speaking freely comes at a steep price, people may think twice before doing so.
🎥 @sarahemclaugh
But the implications go well beyond one athlete.
When speaking freely comes at a steep price, people may think twice before doing so.
🎥 @sarahemclaugh
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Another 300+ people join the thousands arrested under UK anti-terror law for peacefully holding signs expressing support for Palestine Action. This time during a protest outside the US embassy.
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Sarah McLaughlin retweeted
JUST IN: A federal judge has thrown out President Trump's lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal over its story about the Jeffrey Epstein birthday letter.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
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