So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Ep. 274: Financial censorship: how banks silence speech w/ Rainey Reitman Jun 10, 2026

Show notes

What is financial censorship?

Rainey Reitman joins the show to discuss what happens when people are denied access to financial services because of their lawful speech and conduct.

Reitman is the author of Transaction Denied: Big Finance's Power to Punish Speech, which examines the role financial companies like Visa, Chase, and PayPal play in policing speech and silencing speakers.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:29 Ben Reitman: Rainey's great-grandfather and free speech activist

05:42 How Rainey joined the fight for internet freedom

08:19 Chelsea Manning, whistleblowers, and the WikiLeaks banking blockade

16:11 The National Committee for Religious Freedom's fight with Chase Bank

19:10 NRA v. Vullo: The Supreme Court case on indirect government censorship

21:24 The Wolfsberg Group and global banking institutions

23:51 What is a "politically exposed person"?

25:52 Reputational risk management

27:40 Trump's 2025 executive order on debanking

29:45 Sanctions, terrorism screening, and the impact on Muslim communities

33:04 Why banks are so afraid of sanctions violations

34:10 Can you fight back after being debanked?

35:32 Can the private sector censor?

37:50 Operation Choke Point, cannabis, and crypto

47:25 Why are banks policing porn and adult content?

54:11 Solutions to debanking: incentives, crypto, and cash

59:15 Outro

Read the transcript here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at fire.org and would like access to Substack's paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@fire.org.

Ep. 273: Debating Super PACs and campaign finance w/ Larry Lessig and Paul Sherman May 27, 2026

Show notes

In 2010, two landmark decisions transformed American campaign finance law. The first was Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The second was SpeechNow.org v. FEC.

Together, these cases cleared the way for corporations and so-called Super PACs to raise and spend unlimited sums of money in elections.

What followed was a new era in American politics where individuals, corporations, and industries increasingly spent more and more money to influence campaigns and public opinion.

To debate the constitutional, political, and historical questions surrounding money in politics, we are joined by Larry Lessig and Paul Sherman. Lessig is a Harvard Law professor and the founder of Equal Citizens, one of the country's leading advocates for campaign finance reform. Sherman is a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice who served as co-counsel in SpeechNow.org.

Read Larry's paper "If Roe, then Buckley" here.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:43 How Larry and Paul became interested in political speech and campaign finance

05:33 Citizens United, political speech, and quid pro quo corruption

18:34 What was the SpeechNow case?

32:31 Elon Musk and billionaire influence in the 2024 election

49:06 History of campaign finance regulation

51:26 First Amendment originalism, Federalist 52, and Federalist 57

01:07:07 Does money actually influence election outcomes?

01:14:20 Outro

Read the transcript here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at fire.org and would like access to Substack's paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@fire.org.

Ep. 272: FIRE Monthly Member Webinar - May 2026 May 15, 2026

Show notes

Shouting down speakers, UCLA free speech, heckling, AI, doxxing, cancel culture, and more!

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:40 Get your tickets to Soapbox now!

06:30 Congratulations to Will on 20 years at FIRE

07:31 How is FIRE responding to shouting down speakers?

11:33 Will FIRE include viewpoint diversity in our College Free Speech Rankings?

13:48 What is FIRE's response to UCLA Law students protesting a DHS speaker?

17:07 NYU's commencement speaker Jonathan Haidt

21:20 Is walking out on a controversial speaker protected free speech?

23:28 Is FIRE involved in Texas State University professor Tom Alter's case?

25:50 What is the scholar to attorney ratio at FIRE?

27:47 Has cancel culture on college campuses changed since Trump 2.0?

32:00 What is FIRE's stance on doxxing?

37:02 FIRE volunteer opportunities

37:33 Can the government regulate AI?

42:01 Is talk therapy speech or medical treatment? (Chiles v. Salazar)

46:02 What are the most pressing threats to online expression?

51:30 Special thanks to the Middlebury College Democrats and Republicans

53:45 What are the most challenging aspects of FIRE's work with technology and free speech?

57:10 Does accepting government money protect or restrict speech?

01:00:25 Is FIRE a reactive organization and what solutions do we offer?

01:01:41 Outro

Joining us:

Nico Perrino, executive vice president
Alisha Glennon, chief operating officer
Greg Lukianoff, president & chief executive officer
Will Creeley, legal director

Read the transcript here.

Become a paid subscriber today to receive invitations to future live webinars.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at fire.org and would like access to Substack's paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@fire.org.

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Ep. 271: Minecraft, censorship, and threats to press freedom with Clayton Weimers Apr 30, 2026

Show notes

Editorial note: This conversation was recorded on Friday, April 24, the day before the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Both Nico and Clayton attended the event, where a gunman breached security and opened fire before being apprehended.

No one was seriously injured, but the incident serves as a reminder of the threats reporters can face in the course of their work. Since we recorded the conversation before the shooting, Nico and Clayton do not address it, but the incident underscores the stakes of their discussion.

—

In 2020, Reporters Without Borders launched the Uncensored Library, a virtual archive housed inside Minecraft, the world's most popular computer game.

It preserves the work of journalists who have faced censorship, imprisonment, exile, or even death. In countries where their reporting is banned, Minecraft itself is not, making the library a digital sanctuary for suppressed journalism that millions can still access.

In March 2026, the project added a United States wing, reminding Americans that subtler, less direct threats to a free press happen everywhere – even at home.

With today's release of the 2026 World Press Freedom Index and World Press Freedom Day approaching on May 3, we're unpacking the state of press freedom with Clayton Weimers, the executive director of Reporters Without Borders USA.

Download The Uncensored Library here.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

04:41 The state of press freedom in the United States

10:51 Trump administration's threats to press freedom

14:16 Patel v. The Atlantic and actual malice

22:55 Who is to blame for distrust in media?

27:58 Viewpoint diversity in the newsroom

32:15 The modern media ecosystem

40:27 What is RSF?

47:00 Freelance and independent journalism

49:11 Clayton's background and more on Reporters Without Borders

51:25 Inside the Uncensored Library

01:01:59 Outro

Read the transcript here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack's paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@fire.org.

FIRE Reacts: Comey, Kimmel, ABC & the FCC Apr 29, 2026

Show notes

We break down the legal case against James Comey over an alleged "true threat" and how far the government can go in prosecuting speech. Plus, we examine renewed FCC pressure on ABC and Jimmy Kimmel.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

00:57 Does the DOJ have a viable case against James Comey?

04:51 "True threats" and Comey's case

06:36 Threats against U.S. presidents and Watts v. United States

09:55 Was it a mistake for Comey to take down the "8647" seashell image?

11:18 Can the case be dismissed before it goes to trial?

12:38 Can Comey's case be considered a selective prosecution?

13:23 Is the process itself a punishment?

15:29 Could prosecutors face consequences for bringing this case?

18:07 Examples of true threats

20:35 "True threat" versus "incitement to imminent lawless action"

22:53 Is it still a "true threat" if charges come a year later?

24:32 Can Comey recover his legal fees?

25:34 Do threats become more real in the wake of other active threats?

26:32 Does the First Amendment differ for speech about the president?

30:06 What's going on with the FCC and ABC?

34:20 What do NRA v. Vullo and the FCC's calls to fire Jimmy Kimmel have in common?

35:17 Why does broadcast licensing exist in the internet age?

36:51 Have past presidents historically influenced broadcast licensing?

38:33 Is the Fairness Doctrine still in effect?

40:30 What can ABC do if the FCC takes away their licenses?

42:40 Will ABC fight back?

46:01 Has broadcast media regulation always been a frustration for 1A advocates?

49:20 Humphrey's Executor & content-based regulation

50:58 Is the FCC independent from the executive branch?

51:45 The past 18 months of FCC action

52:15 Outro

Joining us:

Conor Fitzpatrick, supervising senior attorney
Aaron Terr, director of public advocacy
Bob Corn-Revere, chief counsel

Ep. 270: The fight for privacy and free speech in the surveillance age Apr 23, 2026

Show notes

The early internet opened unprecedented avenues for speech, creativity, and connection without traditional gatekeepers.

But it also raised civil liberties questions: Do our offline freedoms exist online? And if so, how far do they extend?

Today, those questions are more urgent than ever. Advances in AI have given governments powerful new tools to track, monitor, and analyze our behavior, raising fundamental concerns about the future of free expression in the digital age.

Today we are joined by Cindy Cohn, the executive director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. She has spent thirty years as a civil liberties attorney specializing in digital rights, which she documents in her newly published memoir Privacy's Defender: My Thirty-Year Fight Against Digital Surveillance.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

05:17 Why write this book now?

09:11 Does privacy make free speech possible?

14:52 Code as speech: Bernstein v. United States

33:34 The Patriot Act and government spying

51:09 National security letters and Section 702

57:57 Who is Tony Coppolino?

01:06:06 Why EFF left X

01:11:05 What's next for Cindy

01:13:56 Outro

Read the transcript here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack's paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

Ep. 269: Is free speech declining worldwide? Apr 10, 2026

Show notes

Free speech has long been a cornerstone of democratic society. But today, its principles face increasing pressure.

Around the world, governments are expanding speech restrictions in the name of combating misinformation, hate speech, and extremism, while new technologies make it easier to monitor and control public discourse.

Many free speech advocates warn that these efforts risk eroding democracy itself.

Joining the show to discuss this "global free speech recession" is Jacob Mchangama, a senior fellow at FIRE and the founder and executive director of The Future of Free Speech at Vanderbilt University, and Jeff Kosseff, a senior fellow at The Future of Free Speech. Their new book is "The Future of Free Speech: Reversing the Global Decline of Democracy's Most Essential Freedom."

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:07 Why write this book?

04:40 Where free speech stands in America today

05:53 What is a "global free speech recession"?

11:22 Free speech's high point and what changed

18:56 Election misinformation, disinformation, and the role of AI

34:40 The EU's Digital Services Act and the UK's Online Safety Act

40:00 Are democracies starting to adopt more restrictive speech laws?

43:52 Solutions to reversing the free speech recession

52:25 Outro

Read the transcript here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack's paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

Ep. 268: News and misinformation in early America Apr 03, 2026

Show notes

In 18th century America, news traveled slowly across the Atlantic. Newspapers reprinted secondhand reports, private letters, and unverified stories from abroad, leaving readers with multiple versions of reality.

In a world educated by an unverifiable news cycle, how did misinformation shape early American life?

To explore how news, rumor, and misrepresentation influenced the course of the American Revolution and the nation that followed, we are joined by Jordan Taylor, a historian of American history and the author of Misinformation Nation: Foreign News and the Politics of Truth in Revolutionary America.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:05 How colonists got their news

08:28 Why foreign news dominated early newspapers

17:33 How colonial newspapers verified information

22:32 Did miscommunication help spark the Revolution?

29:57 The XYZ Affair and the Sedition Act

39:21 The First Amendment's original meaning

44:34 Current day parallels

55:41 Outro

Read the transcript here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack's paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

Ep. 267: Social media = cigarettes? Apr 01, 2026

Show notes

In March, juries in California and New Mexico delivered seminal verdicts holding Meta and YouTube liable for failing to protect young users from harm.

Both verdicts found that the companies were negligent in the design or operation of their platforms and that each company knew their platforms could be dangerous when used by a minor.

The courts found that the design elements of the platforms could be separated from the content hosted on the platforms, thus removing the need to consider the First Amendment or Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Joining us to break down the rulings and their possible free speech implications is Mike Masnick, CEO & founder of Techdirt & the Copia Institute.

Masnick is the author of "Everyone Cheering The Social Media Addiction Verdicts Against Meta Should Understand What They're Actually Cheering For."

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:29 Why these verdicts scare the hell out of Mike

10:34 Are social media algorithms "addictive"?

21:45 Did Meta fail to protect kids?

30:37 The First Amendment and Section 230

43:13 Is social media the new Big Tobacco?

55:15 The role of parents in social media use

59:04: Outro

Read the transcript here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack's paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

Ep. 266: How foreign censors target American speakers Mar 19, 2026

Show notes

Governments around the world have increasingly sought to regulate online speech well beyond their borders.

If global platforms are forced to comply with the world's most restrictive laws, whose speech standards win? And what happens to a free and open internet when governments apply their censorship rules across borders?

Today we are joined by Preston Byrne, an attorney and expert in international law and emerging technologies. He has spent nearly two decades working at the intersection of law, tech, and policy, and he now serves as counsel to a coalition of internet publishing platforms suing the United Kingdom's internet regulator. Follow him on X and Substack.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:15Preston's background

16:46 What do foreign censorship laws actually target?

22:35 The UK's Online Safety Act

29:39 Free speech cultures: US vs. UK

40:48 The GRANITE Act and protecting Americans from foreign censorship

1:01:15 Outro

Don't miss the free speech event of the year! Get your tickets and learn more about the Soapbox Conference here.

Read the transcript here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack's paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

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