According to Article 19, a global human rights organisation, more than half the world’s population lives in a country where freedom of expression is ‘in crisis’ (International Bar Association).
Article 19 publishes an annual report tracking global freedom of speech levels around the globe. David Diaz-Jogeix, the organisation’s London-based Senior Director for Programmes, says “this latest statistic on freedom of expression is larger than any other previous records.”
Sarah Hutchinson, Co-Chair of the IBA Rule of Law Forum and Non-Executive Director at BARBRI Global, argues the decline in freedom of speech has been exacerbated by a rise in populism and extremism. While free expression has always been limited in Iran and China, there have also been worrying developments in nations that refer to themselves as democratic.
‘For example, in Hungary, the media is mostly controlled by the government and independent journalism is limited with journalists at risk of criminal charges,’ says Hutchinson.
Moreover, Laura Lee Prather, Scholarship Officer on the IBA North American Regional Forum and Chair of the Media Law Practice Group at Haynes & Boone in Texas, says that for journalists from traditional news outlets in the US, obtaining access to everything from high-profile political events to state legislature sessions has become more challenging.
Prather has also drawn attention to a simultaneous increase in so-called strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPPs. These are used by wealthy individuals to deter stories about them from being run, exerting a chilling effect on news coverage. ‘Outlets are not going to report on things that they previously would have if they’re tangled up in court for years fighting lawsuits’, she explains.
In Prather’s view, both trends have caused a decline in freedom of speech in the US. ‘The rights that are at issue here are fundamental human rights, not just the right to speak freely and to a free press, but also the right to an informed citizenry,’ she says. ‘All of those rights are in jeopardy right now.’
According to the report, within Central Asia and Europe, Poland has seen the largest decline in the last ten years while, in the Americas, El Salvador has experienced the greatest deterioration in freedom of expression.
However, there are some cautiously positive examples. In 2016, Gambia seemingly transitioned from a dictatorship to a democracy overnight after its population elected President Adama Barrow. In Article 19’s latest report, the West African nation saw the largest progress in terms of freedom of speech in any sub-Saharan African country over the last decade.
However, several recent developments created concerns that the country is back-sliding. In 2023 for example, the government introduced a cybercrime bill, which Diaz-Jogeix says will limit online freedom of expression and dissent. less
Diaz-Jogeix also argues that toppling autocratic figures like Jair Bolsonaro is good for freedom of speech. Similarly, the report singles out the now-defeated Polish Law and Justice Party as an example of a government that has suppressed freedom of speech.
Whilst these governments have regularly endangered freedom of speech, it could be argued the report ignores the role of liberal governments in suppressing free speech. For instance, Elon Musk recently labelled Brazil’s regulations on X as “the most draconian demands of any country on Earth.”
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