The invasion of Ukraine is forcing a realignment of countries on the democratic spectrum to choose whether they will join the liberal democracies or a new authoritarian world order. A second or virtual front is taking place online to rupture Putin’s new Iron Curtain through cyber attacks, as well as interventions from non-state actors such as Tech companies seeking to control the spread of disinformation and hacktivists attempting to disrupt operations in Russia. As global alliances seek to isolate Russia politically and economically, Putin is employing old and new forms of censorship to control the information flowing in and out of Russia to ensure the 140 million Russian citizens are only able to understand the conflict through the lens of Russian state propaganda. While the motives and tactics of the ground war are familiar, there is much about how this conflict is unfolding for which there are no historical parallels.

To help us understand this moment in history and what it means for the future of free speech, Columbia Global Freedom of Expression is hosting a conversation between Jacob Mchangama and Joel Simon. Jacob Mchangama is the Founder and Director of Justitia, a Copenhagen-based think tank that focuses on human rights, freedom of speech, and the rule of law and author of the new book Free Speech: A History From Socrates to Social Media. Joel Simon is a Fellow at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia Journalism School, former Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, and author of the forthcoming book The Infodemic: How Censorship and Lies Made the World Sicker and Less Free, which will be out April 26 from Columbia Global Reports.

Based on the research for his new book, Mchangama will explain how the principle of freedom of expression has evolved in an effort to put this particular moment in time into historical perspective and ask what lessons from the past can to help us understand the forces at work today – marked by the impact of disruptive technologies and rising populist nationalism. They will discuss some of the paradox’s we now face, such as how liberal democracies in Europe and North America “now point to unmediated disinformation and hateful speech on the Internet as evidence that free speech is being weaponized against democracy itself,” yet many of the proposed policy and regulatory remedies could be adopted by authoritarian regimes to silence dissent with a cloak of legitimacy. They will also discuss the evolution of modern forms of censorship and ways to counter the viral spread of misinformation and disinformation while protecting freedom of expression based on international human rights standards.

Speakers:

● Jacob Mchangama, Founder and Director of Justitia, a Copenhagen-based think tank that focuses on human rights, freedom of speech, and the rule of law and author of the new book Free Speech: A History From Socrates to Social Media.

● Joel Simon is a Fellow at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia Journalism School, former Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, and author of the forthcoming book The Infodemic: How Censorship and Lies Made the World Sicker and Less Free, which will be out April 26 from Columbia Global Reports.

Please note the conversation will take place in English.