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In the Media

Articles That Mention the Free Speech Union

Labour ‘declares war’ on free speech

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The Free Speech Union were quick to slam the “shocking” plans, with general secretary Toby Young promising they will pursue a judicial review if the cross-party approved law is blocked. Young nailed it:
“The government [is]…effectively declaring war on free speech…For all Sir Keir Starmer’s talk about human rights, he clearly doesn’t care about the most important human right of all, which is the right to free speech.”

Guido Fawkes, 26th July 2024.

Cosmetic surgery company that sued over bad reviews settles cases

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The patients being sued were given support from the Free Speech Union (FSU), which warned that Signature Clinic’s tactics were a clear case of strategic lawsuits against public participation, or Slapps. Slapps have become notorious in the wake of a series of actions against journalists designed to stifle free speech. Bryn Harris, FSU’s chief counsel, criticised the “aggressive and bullying nature” of the litigation.

Fiona Hamilton, The Times, 22nd July 2024.

The funny side of being cancelled

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Douglas Is Cancelled, the new drama series on ITV, should come with a trigger warning – for me, anyway. Watching it brought back memories of my own cancellation six years ago, which I found so traumatic that I lost half a stone. Admittedly, the middle-aged white man at the centre of this drama (Hugh Bonneville) only has one position to lose – he’s a television presenter – whereas I lost five. But apart from that the similarities are uncanny. Did the writer, Steven Moffat, read the 5,000-word piece I wrote about my experience? Or do all cancellations follow the same pattern?

Toby Young,The Spectator, 6th July 2024.

Against the machine

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Hot on Tucker’s heels, Toby Young, an associate editor of our UK magazine, is currently touring the nation to promote the Australian chapter of his Free Speech Union.
The Free Speech Union has already had great success in Britain, South Africa and New Zealand assisting individuals who have been ‘cancelled’ for whatever perceived speech ‘crimes’, often something as minor as an ill-conceived or innocuous social media post.

The Spectator Australia, 6th July 2024.

Sick of woke censorship? You ain’t seen nothing yet

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It certainly looks like Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party is on course for a large majority at the General Election. What will this mean for free speech?
The Free Speech Union, which I founded in 2020, is a non-partisan organisation and will defend its members who get into trouble for exercising their right to free speech regardless of their political views, provided they stay within the law. I’m worried that a Labour government will bring in new laws that will criminalise vast swathes of speech that are currently legal. We anticipate fighting a number of test cases in which we challenge whether those laws are compatible with our existing laws, including the Human Rights Act.

Toby Young, Spiked, 4 July 2024.

New Zealand’s culture wars backlash

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I’m in New Zealand on a speaking tour organised by the Kiwi Free Speech Union, and in some ways it’s like visiting Britain in a more innocent era. This struck me when I went on a tour of the Hobbiton movie set, where The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit were filmed. The Shire of Tolkien’s imagination, lovingly created by Peter Jackson, is an idealised version of rural England – and New Zealand, with its perfectly manicured lawns and open-faced, friendly people, is a bit like that. Although, to be fair, I may be viewing the country through rose-tinted spectacles because Labour was heavily defeated in the most recent election, winning just 34 out of 120 seats.

Toby Young,The Spectator, 22nd June 2024.

Bowen to the rescue

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As we mentioned last week, we are delighted to welcome Toby Young, associate editor of The Spectator in the UK, to the Antipodes. Toby is here on a tour of our major cities to promote the excellent Australian and New Zealand branches of the Free Speech Union, which he originally founded in Britain in 2020.

The Spectator Australia, 22nd June 2024.

Death by red tape

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Luckily, the Free Speech Union agreed to cover the excess charges, and the event was able to proceed as planned. However, the obstacles did not stop here. The process of arranging security was an uphill struggle against what seemed to be a never-ending volume of red tape, paperwork, meetings, and bottleneck dynamics.

Rhianwen Daniel, The Critic, 20th June 2024.

Social media platforms are still stifling debate

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The Free Speech Union reported on June 9th  about the sudden purge of Instagram  accounts belonging to those with sex realist views.
One of these accounts was Sex Matters, who were permanently suspended for breaking the website’s “community guidelines”. Sex Matters is of course the registered charity set up by Maya Forstater in the wake of her 2021 court victory which established that a belief that sex is real and it matters is worthy of respect in a democratic society and protected by the Equality Act.

Sarah Phillimore, The Critic, 18th June 2024.

The football world’s war on free speech

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Earlier this year, for instance, it emerged that Newcastle United Football Club (NUFC) supporter and Free Speech Union member Linzi Smith has been banned from attending home matches during the season just ended and for the next two for expressing legally protected gender critical views online. Her “crime” in the eyes of her hometown club was to criticise the view that men who identify as women should be treated as if they were indistinguishable from biological women, including being able to access women’s changing rooms, compete against women in sports like football and rugby and be housed in women’s jails. The fact that Linzi was prevented from supporting her beloved team in this way is bad enough. But while supporting Linzi, the FSU has also discovered a shadowy investigation unit with an opaque remit embedded within the Premier League that spied on her at NUFC’s behest.

Freddie Attenborough, The Critic, 13th June 2024.

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