The Discernable Interviews

Jacob Mchangama: What is the point of Free Speech?

1hr 4min

17 May 2022

Jacob Mchangama is the founder of Justitia, Denmark’s first judicial think tank with a focus on human rights, freedom rights, and the rule of law. A practising attorney for many years, Jacob has become one of the world’s most sought-after and awarded experts on free speech driven by his extensive writing and media work.

His most recent book Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media chronicles the history of that ‘bedrock of democracy’ and has been praised as ‘the best defence of free speech ever made’.

He joined Discernable to explain whether free speech is a luxury or a foundational principle, and who suffers and benefits from free speech. We also looked at research on the Australian perspective of free speech.