Press and media freedom
The Free Speech Union has covered 97 stories on this topic. Browse our coverage below.
7 September 2026
The Green Party is a menace to free speech, writes FSU's Max Thompson
Writing for Spiked, the FSU's Max Thompson argues that Zack Polanski and the Green Party's calls for press regulation and inquiries into media 'culture' are a sinister, authoritarian attack on a free press.
26 August 2026
Jason Arday's death is being used to attack press freedom, says Kemi Badenoch
Kemi Badenoch has accused campaigners of exploiting Jason Arday's death to push for press regulation, as Green Party figures and Hacked Off renew calls for a Leveson-style inquiry.
20 August 2026
What we told the White House about free speech in Britain
The Financial Times is preparing a follow-up piece about the briefing we prepared for the Office of the Vice-President in February 2025, ahead of Sir Keir Starmer’s visit to the White House. We are publishing it in full.
19 August 2026
The Green Party is on a warpath with the media as it unleashes a censorship policy blitz
The Green Party is pushing a raft of censorious proposals — from state press regulation to a £1 billion 'Independent Media Commons' — as leader Zack Polanski calls for the press to be "sorted out".
3 August 2026
Free speech isn't safe in Andy Burnham's hands
Max Thompson argues that Andy Burnham's premiership, and a cabinet stacked with press-sceptical ministers, marks a dangerous new chapter for free speech in Britain.
7 July 2026
Labour Deputy Leader Calls for Tough Social Media Restrictions During Elections
Lucy Powell wants election-time speech duties imposed on platforms like Facebook and X — and praised Lisa Nandy's exit from X over "misinformation," even as Nandy pushes a green paper to police "trustworthy" news. Neither raised a word when Starmer's government tried to cancel local elections or curb jury trial. As Starmer heads for the door, the Burnham government looks set to be even more censorious.
6 July 2026
Lisa Nandy has quit X
Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, has quit X, accusing the platform of favouring abuse and misinformation over meaningful debate and declaring it unhealthy for democracy. But when has Nandy ever cared about free speech?
1 July 2026
Love Actually's Prime Minister: Hugh Grant pushes Andy Burnham to bring the British free press under state control
Britain's Prime Minister-in-waiting, Andy Burnham, is set to do the bidding of Love Actually actor Hugh Grant and bring the British free press under state control. The Free Speech Union is bracing for the free speech battles that lie ahead under a Burnham premiership.
29 June 2026
Hong Kong bookshop owners arrested in yet another free speech crackdown
In a reminder of the horrors of Hong Kong's censorship crisis, two bookshop owners have been arrested and accused of "displaying seditious items", including material said to incite hatred against the Hong Kong SAR government, its judiciary, and law enforcement agencies. The charge of displaying seditious items carries a maximum sentence of fourteen years in prison. It falls under the Hong Kong Safeguarding National Security Ordinance—commonly known as Article 23—which goes even further than the Beijing-imposed National Security Law introduced in 2020.
26 June 2026
Keir Starmer has resigned as Prime Minister – farewell to our chief recruiting sergeant
As the Prime Minister resigns, the Free Speech Union braces itself for what free speech battles we face under Andy Burnham.
19 June 2026
Parallel legislation to tackle SLAPPs introduced in both Houses of Parliament
Two parallel private members' bills targeting SLAPPs — strategic lawsuits used by wealthy litigants to silence journalists, campaigners, and whistleblowers — have been introduced in both Houses of Parliament this week. Baroness Stowell of Beeston and Sir John Whittingdale MP are behind the respective bills, which would give judges the power to dismiss such cases at the earliest possible stage. The FSU welcomes the move.
5 June 2026
Facebook silences former employee at Hay Festival
Meta is silencing Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former Director of Global Public Policy at Facebook, who published a memoir — Careless People — containing damning claims about the company's internal culture and its appeasement of the Chinese government. Bound by a legal order that exposes her to a $50,000 fine for every breach, Wynn-Williams sat in silence on stage at the Hay Festival while Professor Tim Wu answered questions on her behalf.
15 December 2025
Tougher regulation of the print media will only deprive the public of reliable sources of news.
22 November 2025
Ex BBC journalist speaks about being forced out of BBC News for gender-critical views
22 August 2025
PEN and 72 NGOs urge UK to secure Jimmy Lai’s release
3 August 2025
Police advised councillors to suppress asylum status in child rape case, sources allege
15 July 2025
Government imposed two-year gag order to conceal Afghan data breach and £6bn resettlement scheme
5 June 2025
BBC warns of alarming escalation in Iranian harassment of Persian service journalists and their families
6 May 2025
Cancelled cartoon exhibition to relaunch at new venue “in weeks”
5 May 2025
FSU threatens judicial review over Telegraph takeover by Abu Dhabi
2 May 2025
Parliament urged to investigate press regulator in free speech row
1 May 2025
Allison Pearson cleared by press regulator after police complaint
30 April 2025
Free speech row after venue scraps exhibition of Fleet Street cartoonists
30 April 2025
Ipso ruling on Telegraph is an attack on free speech
29 April 2025
Starmer “sought to stifle free press on behalf of Labour”
28 April 2025
FSU threatens judicial review over Telegraph takeover by Abu Dhabi
28 April 2025
Writers jailed in record numbers amid rise in transnational repression
24 April 2025
Journalism in the Dock: Sir Keir Starmer’s Baseless Prosecution of Tabloid Journalists as Director of Public Prosecutions
9 April 2025
German journalist convicted for free speech meme
8 April 2025
Parliamentary free speech upheld as Philip Green loses ECHR challenge
20 March 2025
Far-Left campaigners accused of attacking GB News
20 March 2025
Why won’t Labour stand up for free speech?
14 March 2025
University ‘snooped’ on academics in hunt for chief’s affair leak
14 March 2025
Yvette Cooper accused of undermining UK-US special relationship in Apple spying row
9 March 2025
Police pressure media to withhold court evidence, sparking free speech row
7 March 2025
Police review suggests Essex Police was wrong not to record a ‘non-crime hate incident’ against journalist Allison Pearson
26 February 2025
Award-winning journalist sues police over social media investigation
21 February 2025
Lisa Nandy says protesting sponsorship of the arts is “gagging society”
31 January 2025
Holocaust memorial exhibition blocked from Parliament over ‘political neutrality
22 January 2025
Police break up mob protesting ‘offensive’ Bollywood film at London cinema
21 January 2025
Presiding Officer of Welsh Parliament accused of “censorship”
8 January 2025
Royal Society of Literature director and chair quit after free speech rows
4 January 2025
Jon Sopel book title at centre of non-crime race-hate row
30 December 2024
Italian journalist arrested and held in solitary confinement in Iran
19 December 2024
Landmark case for press freedom, as tribunal rules police unlawfully spied on journalists
18 December 2024
FSU member fighting for free speech in the arts – show your support!
10 December 2024
Spectator rebuked for calling trans author “man who claims to be a woman”
8 December 2024
“Your book is too Jewish”: How the British publishing industry began an ‘anti-Semitic silent boycott’
4 December 2024
JK Rowling accuses New York Times of ‘rewriting history’ by downplaying abuse from trans activists
1 December 2024
Navratilova condemns New York Times for calling female athletes ‘non-transgender women’
27 November 2024
BBC staff urged by union to wear Palestinian flag colours and a keffiyeh
24 November 2024
Free speech row after regulator bans advert for mocking Virgin Mary
21 November 2024
Allison Pearson’s police interview ‘Stasi-like’, says Labour MP
16 November 2024
“Incompetent” Essex Police set up terror-style incident group for single Allison Pearson tweet
13 November 2024
FSU member and Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson faces investigation over alleged hate crime
13 November 2024
Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson faces investigation over reported ‘non-crime hate incident’
4 November 2024
Southport ricin charge statement was delayed by riot fears
3 November 2024
Sally Rooney and co’s cultural boycott of Israel reveals only their ignorance
31 October 2024
Government should be “more open” about terror cases as Southport accused appears in court
29 October 2024
Legal advocacy group criticises “discriminatory and illegal” plan to boycott Israeli book industry
10 October 2024
Police federation suspends Met chair after GB News interview about officers’ racism fears
8 October 2024
GB News facing “significant fine” after losing High Court battle against Ofcom
28 August 2024
Children prefer Dahl and Blyton unsanitised, says McCall Smith
21 July 2024
French news channel fined for airing unchallenged negative views about migration and climate change
19 July 2024
Journalist told to pay damages for “body shaming” Italian PM over her height
17 July 2024
Germany rejects ‘counterspeech doctrine’ in favour of banning right-wing magazine
26 June 2024
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange walks free following plea deal in US court
12 June 2024
Former GB News presenter says Ofcom killed his career over Covid vaccine claims
12 June 2024
New York Times bestseller list ‘biased against conservative authors’
10 June 2024
Olympics accused of waging “1984 version of war on women” over LGBT speech code for journalists
8 June 2024
Free speech concern after Ipso rule against open court reporting
4 June 2024
The books banned from libraries after one complaint
1 June 2024
How Bloomsbury dropped books on gender ideology and British colonialism
1 June 2024
Northern Ireland law that would have outlawed Savile allegations struck down in big legal victory for press freedom
29 May 2024
“French media illegally discriminates against political Right,” report finds
22 May 2024
Ofcom’s contempt for GB News viewers
21 May 2024
Belgium’s BPost says Conservative-leaning magazine ‘too political’ to work with
21 May 2024
GB News accuses Ofcom of “sinister” attack on democracy over threat of fine for alleged breach of impartiality rules
11 May 2024
Sir Salman Rushdie tells Italian PM to “grow up” after slander case
1 May 2024
Met pays five-figure sum to French publisher held under terrorism law
30 April 2024
UAE-backed investment fund formally abandons Telegraph takeover
18 April 2024
BBC Scotland accused of pandering to trans activists in Cass Review coverage
3 April 2024
Stabbed Iranian journalist’s interview with Israeli PM made him “a target for wrath”
27 March 2024
Government protects freedom of the press, ending UAE bid for Telegraph Media Group
21 March 2024
Trans row shows BBC still under Stonewall’s sway, says John Humphrys
20 March 2024
Justin Webb and the trans row causing a ‘meltdown’ at the BBC
14 March 2024
Parliament protects press freedom as foreign powers blocked from owning UK newspapers
11 March 2024
Climate chief accused of obfuscation after staff told to “kill” negative net zero story
27 February 2024
Guardian writer boycotts newspaper for airbrushing biological sex in report on transgender murderer
27 February 2024
UK minister defends government’s rebranded Counter Disinformation Unit
23 February 2024
Government backs bill to prevent wealthy elites using lawfare to gag journalist and silence critics
17 February 2024
Salman Rushdie, Bernardine Evaristo and the Royal Society of Literature at war
9 February 2024
“Impartial” Royal Society of Literature can’t support authors who come under attack for their ideas, says president
4 February 2024
Royal Society of Literature failing to support writer's right to freedom of expression, say current members
30 January 2024
BBC told don’t hire candidates who are “dismissive” about diversity and inclusion
28 January 2024
Lawyer threatened with arrest under Public Order Act for driving van with anti-BBC slogans
26 January 2024
Students attempt heckler's veto against Twitter Files journalist Bari Weiss
