About the Free Speech Union

Who we are

The Free Speech Union is a non-partisan, mass membership public interest body that stands up for the speech rights of its members and campaigns for free speech more widely. We champion the right of people from all walks of life to express themselves without fear of punishment or persecution. We often come to the defence of our members who get into trouble for exercising their right to lawful free speech, whether in the workplace, at university or on social media.

We are funded entirely by our members and supporters. We take no government money and have no political agenda beyond the belief that people should be free to speak their minds without fear of losing their jobs, their reputations, or their liberty.

Meet the Organisation

The Free Speech Union is led by a dedicated team of staff and supported by advisory councils of prominent public figures — academics, lawyers, writers, journalists, and public intellectuals from across Britain and beyond.

What we do

When a member faces consequences for something they've said — at work, on social media, or in public life — we act. We have a casework team, employment lawyers, human rights barristers, and press officers ready to intervene. We've handled over 5,000 cases since we were founded.

But we don't just fight individual cases. We run campaigns, challenge bad legislation, bring judicial reviews against government overreach, and publish research and analysis on threats to free expression. If the environment you speak into is fairer, every member benefits.

Statement of Values

The Free Speech Union stands for freedom of speech, of conscience, and of intellectual inquiry, which we regard as the essential pillars of a free society — the foundational freedoms on which all others depend. We believe that human beings cannot flourish outside a free society, which means they cannot flourish in the absence of free speech. Free speech is how knowledge is developed and shared, as well as our views about morality, religion, and politics. Robust debate — appealing to reason, evidence, and our shared values — is also the best way to resolve disagreements about issues big and small without descending to violence or intimidation. And free speech is the most effective bulwark against abuses of power by politicians, with history demonstrating that its denial is both the aim of tyrants, because it stops people from criticising them, and an ominous precursor to the removal of other freedoms.

We believe that free speech is currently under assault across the Anglosphere, particularly in those areas where it matters most, such as schools, universities, the arts, the entertainment industry, and the media. The aim of the Free Speech Union is to restore it and protect it.

We take no position on the validity of others' opinions, political or otherwise, whether expressed in speech, writing, performance, or in another form. However, we condemn all incitements to violence.

We expect our members not to restrict others' freedom of speech, and we hope that when engaging in discussions and disagreements, they keep faith with the spirit of the Enlightenment and use reason and evidence to prosecute their case, rather than engaging in ad hominem or seeking to silence opponents through harassment or intimidation. While we discourage offensive or personal attacks, particularly if based on a person's membership of a particular group, we would not generally exclude people from joining the Free Speech Union or try to kick out existing members for engaging in uncivil behaviour (although we reserve the right to do so). The Free Speech Union believes that if society doesn't uphold the right to express controversial, eccentric, heretical, provocative, or unwelcome opinions, then it doesn't uphold free speech.

"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people things they do not want to hear." — George Orwell