Search Results for: freedom speech

Scotland’s controversial Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 came into force on Monday. The law intends to unite existing hate crime laws, along with creating several new offenses, most notably criminalizing “threatening or abusive behaviour which is intended to stir up hatred.” Stirring up racial hatred has been an offense since 1986. However, [...]

Radio Free Asia’s (RFA) president, Bay Fang, announced Friday that the news organization has already closed its Hong Kong bureau and will “no longer have full-time personnel in Hong Kong” due to safety concerns after the enactment of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance. The statement cited actions by Hong Kong authorities, who have referred to [...]

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange “lives to fight another day” according to his brother Gabriel, as the UK High Court halted his potential transfer to the US on Tuesday due to inadequate assurances on his treatment if extradited to the US. The pause came following the court’s directive that the US government furnish assurances that Assange [...]

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed one of the country’s most restrictive social media bans for minors into law on Monday. The law bans social media accounts for children under the age of 14 and requires parental permission for accounts for children between the ages of 14 and 15. The law is set to take effect [...]

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rejected a challenge Thursday from tobacco companies that alleged a bill requiring graphic imagery on cigarette packaging and advertisements was a violation of the First Amendment to the US Constitution. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (TCA) was enacted by [...]

India’s Supreme Court intervened on Thursday in the ongoing dispute over the government’s Fact-Check Unit (FCU) and temporarily halted its operation following concerns raised by various parties, according to Live Law. Notably, the Editors Guild of India, standing as one of the petitioners in the case, validated and appreciated the stay ordered by the apex [...]

The US Supreme Court declined to hear Monday the appeal of New Mexico County Commissioner Couy Griffin, who was removed from office after his participation in the events of January 6, 2021, at the US Capitol. Griffin, the founder of Cowboys for Trump and former Otero County Commissioner, was convicted of disorderly conduct and entering [...]

The UK government released a new definition of extremism on Thursday in response to a rise in extremist threats across the country. Groups that meet the new definition will be automatically barred from receiving government funding. The statement outlining this definition noted that the change is due to the increasing pervasiveness of extremist ideologies in recent [...]

The Parliament of Kyrgyzstan passed a bill modeled after Russia’s “foreign agents” law on Thursday, increasing the government’s oversight of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The law will require anyone receiving foreign donations to label themselves a “foreign representative” and follow tighter guidelines when documenting their activities. The bill specifically targets NGOs receiving foreign funding, and it requires [...]

The Deflagration Accident Disposal Headquarters of Hebei Province, China, issued a statement on Thursday apologizing for blocking media correspondents from reporting on an explosion that occurred in a four-story building located in Hebei Province, near Beijing, China, while pledging to actively establish a robust communication platform with the media and protect journalists’ rights. Following the [...]