Raj Patel 🇬🇧 🇮🇳

A social media ban for under-16s is not about protecting children from online harms. The Government’s plans, due to come into effect in March 2027, are part of a broader effort to gain greater control over what we see online — and, ultimately, what we think. The same Government plans to ban a 15-year-old from Spotify, YouTube Kids and Lego Play, yet expects them to make an informed decision at the ballot box the day they turn 16, under the Representation of the People Bill. It is insane.

The Free Speech Union is deeply troubled by what is happening in the Welsh Parliament. The freedom of elected representatives to speak is at the heart of our democracy. Those we elect to represent us should be able to voice their constituents’ concerns, however uncomfortable they may be for some to hear. We stand with @joemartin1066 and every elected representative’s right to speak freely in their Parliament.

Free speech on campus continues to come under attack, with Cambridge once again showing itself to be a bastion for those seeking to cancel people they disagree with. The university must hold its nerve over Professor James Orr. Students have repeatedly targeted his lectures in Cambridge, and did so again on Friday. Elizabeth Spring, a theology student at Cambridge, writes that “a mob of protesters shouted and banged on the windows of the associate professor of religion’s lesson in an apparent effort to dissuade undergraduates from taking his paper. A week earlier, two student activists members of the Fire James Orr Campaign disrupted a lecture he was delivering”. She also reports that some students have expressed an alarming desire to see Professor Orr physically attacked. Much of the anger behind this campaign is a reaction to the media storm over the summer about Professor Jason Arday. But James Orr is not responsible for Arday’s death. As Elizabeth writes: “It doesn’t matter that there is no substantial link between Orr and Arday, it only matters that Orr is a known conservative.” She adds: “One of their incoherent arguments for his guilt is that he is a member of the Free Speech Union”. Additional measures have been taken to protect Orr and his students. These included having two protectors present at Friday’s lecture, arranging for lectures to be recorded for students who were too frightened to attend, and checking students’ IDs, as many of the protesters are not actually Cambridge students. Protesters brandished signs bearing James Orr’s face and filmed the building on their phones, accusing the former head of policy at @reformparty_uk of being “bought by Palantir”. Cambridge has not covered itself in glory in recent years with its approach to free speech. Writing about the level of cancel culture at the university, Elizabeth says: “I wish I could say that political intimidation is unusual at my university, but this instance of campaigning with the intent to silence dissenters from Cambridge’s political monoculture is unfortunately normal. Instances abound of events being cancelled, or kept under the radar due to the risk of counter protests”. Members of the Cambridge University Society of Women, supported by the Free Speech Union through the Ian Mactaggart Programme, have faced a relentless campaign of abuse for their lawful gender-critical beliefs. They continue to advertise the locations of their events only on the day itself to avoid confrontation from other students. Read more below in @spectator 👇