In the last few days, Donald Trump’s campaign, amplified by Elon Musk on X/Twitter, has started to make comments about the diminishing “freedom of speech” and increased “censorship” in the US and other countries. As proof, they take the decision made by the Alexandre de Moraes, a Brazilian judge, to proceed with an “immediate and complete suspension” of X/Twitter, until it complies with all court orders and pays existing fines. The row started as the judge ordered the suspension of several X accounts spreading misinformation.
If there is one thing that Trump has never lacked, it is the freedom of saying whatever he wanted, in all possible circumstances, however offensive it may have been for the audience. Not in a single instance was it “censored.” Even during the infamous debate that sank Joe Biden’s bid for re-election, Trump made a number of false or unsubstantiated claims, which the journalists moderating the debate did not contest. The same is true for his running mate JD Vance, who is also complaining about the danger to democracy represented by the attack on freedom of speech.
It is ironic that these alarms are being sounded by those candidates who have repeatedly said that they would like to amend the US Constitution’s First Amendment, which protects the country’s freedom of speech. Trump recently said that the Republicans, once in power, need to “restrict the first amendment.” Also, no one is even actually attacking Trump’s or others’ freedom of speech. What the Brazilian judge has ordered is to stop the spreading of disinformation and fake news, in some cases coming from fake accounts.
Social media are not subject to the same regulations as is the press, whose editors and publishers are required to verify the truthfulness of news published. It has therefore become the vehicle to spread all sorts of fake news, such as those that caused the mass riots in England in early August. So the ability of circulating fake news cannot be confused with defending the freedom of speech.
Since the Democrats are saying that Trump is a danger for democracy, considering his involvement in the January 6th, 2021 assault on Capitol Hill and his endorsement of Project 2025, the Republicans are now saying that Kamala Harris would be a danger for democracy since she would suppress the freedom of speech and would silence her opponents via censorship. This analogy seems to be very stretched.
In a world in which Germany’s far-right, sometimes neo-Nazi party Alternative fur Deutschland wins its first election (as we predicted it would in our preview), and in which Afghan women are actually being denied the freedom of speaking in public, confusing a ban on spreading fake news with censorship is a dangerous exercise. Freedom of speech is the bedrock of democracy, as Musk is correctly saying. Spreading fake news is the surest way of corroding this freedom from within.
