The Free Speech Union

Is Britain sleepwalking into a new censorship regime?

In this episode, Lord Young talks to Free Speech Union policy and research director David Rose about his new briefing paper, Misinformation about Misinformation, and the weak evidence being used to justify ever-tighter controls over what people can say and see online.

David argues that claims about the threat of “misinformation” are being exaggerated to legitimise a far-reaching apparatus of monitoring, regulation and suppression — one that could privilege state-approved narratives while pushing dissenting or independent voices out of view.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, read David Rose's briefing "Misinformation about Misinformation": https://freespeechunion.org/publications/misinformation-about-misinformation

JOIN US FOR A LIVE RECORDING of the podcast at the Battle of Ideas Festival on Saturday 17 October in Central London: https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/podcast-live-the-free-speech-union-on-the-free-speech-frontline/

(FSU members can get 20% off by clicking on the link in the members' email from 22 September 2026.)

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#freespeech #censorshipdebate #internetfreedom

The Free Speech Union's Connie Shaw is joined by her friend and fellow activist Maeve Halligan.

They met through free speech, gender critical networks in London while undergraduates at different universities. At university, both found themselves at odds with a woke orthodoxy which seemed particularly popular among female students.

When Maeve Halligan spoke against trans activism at a Cambridge Union debate in summer 2026, her speech went viral. It was a spectacular finale to her year as founder president of the Cambridge University Society of Women (CUSW).

Maeve explains why, even though she lost the vote at the debate, she hasn't given up hope of winning over young women. 

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Follow the Free Speech Union

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JOIN US FOR A LIVE RECORDING of the podcast at the Battle of Ideas Festival on Saturday 17 October in Central London: https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/podcast-live-the-free-speech-union-on-the-free-speech-frontline/

(FSU members can get 20% off by clicking on the link in the members' email from 22 September 2026.)

Follow Maeve Hallgan

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Is Donald Trump undermining press freedom?

Veteran US journalist and SpyTalk editor and podcast host Jeff Stein joins David Rose on the Free Speech Union podcast to discuss Trump’s clashes with the media and the million-dollar defamation lawsuit that could have cost Stein his home. He explains how Substack Defender funded his successful legal defence, why costly libel actions can silence independent journalists and what his case means for free speech in the US and UK.

#freespeech #censorshipdebate #pressfreedom

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Follow the Free Speech Union

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Join us for a live recording of the podcast at the Battle of Ideas Festival on Saturday 17 October in Central London: https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/podcast-live-the-free-speech-union-on-the-free-speech-frontline/ (FSU members can get 20% off by clicking on the link in the members' email from 22 September 2026.)

Follow Jeff Stein Substack: https://substack.com/@spytalk

Spytalk podcast: https://www.spytalk.co/podcast

Subscribe to the Free Speech Union podcast channel for more interviews on freedom of speech, censorship, media freedom and civil liberties.

A shocking video of police turning up on the doorstep of a teenager's home went viral in 2025. Officers demanded devices, barged into the house, and seized a young girl's phone over an unverified social media allegation.

Jake Hurfurt of Big Brother Watch investigated what happened next. What he uncovered is shocking.

In this episode of the Free Speech Union podcast, Jake joins the FSU's David Rose to unpack what really happened in that viral case, and how it fits into a nationwide crisis of over 62,000 communications arrests across the UK.

Read Jake Hurfurt's report "Britain's Free Speech Problem", published by Big Brother Watch: https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Britains-Free-Speech-Problem-070926.pdf

#freespeech #censorshipdebate

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In this episode of The Free Speech Union podcast, Connie Shaw speaks with Reverend Dr Bernard Randall, who underwent a seven-year battle after delivering a sermon encouraging pupils at Trent College in Nottinghamshire to think critically and respect diverse viewpoints on sex and gender.

Trent College was a Christian school and had employed Bernard as its chaplain. But the school had adopted a woke agenda. After Bernard's sermon, he was banned from preaching in the school chapel. He was also secretly reported to the government's counter extermism programme, Prevent. Bernard describes years of tribunal proceedings and Church of England safeguarding investigations. And the importance of standing up for freedom of conscience. 

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#freespeech #censorshipdebate #religiousfreedom

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