The End of Free Speech Liberalism

Fara Dabhoiwala’s revisionist history What is Free Speech? has arrived in the United States at an odd moment. Three years ago, the book would have been seized on in the pages of prominent publications, perhaps to defend the Biden administration’s ill-fated appointment of Nina Jankowicz as disinformation czar. Now, however, with Democrats out of federal power and their institutions under siege, Dabhoiwala’s defense of common-good speech regulation has gone mostly unacknowledged by opinionmakers. Given Dabhoiwala’s progressive views, his book won’t find many enthusiastic readers on the right either, though the Trump administration has recently sought to restrict what it regards as hateful speech—first on college campuses and now, in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, in broader society.