Repression of free speech is a symptom of tyranny, but all governments regulate it to some degree. That disruption to the democratic operating system isn’t addressed by arguments about free speech. Free speech is the lens that tech companies apply because it gives a democratic inflection to their commercial interests as oligopolists in an under-regulated digital realm. Such imperial coercion is, of course, expressed by Washington as part of a global crusade in defence of free speech. Those are not questions of free speech but sovereignty, which is something Conservatives used to care about.

Source: The Guardian February 04, 2026 16:31 UTC