Senior Scholar, Global Expression @TheFIREorg. AUTHORITARIANS IN THE ACADEMY out now at @JHUPress. @ sarahemclaugh on Bluesky. Opinions mine. Go birds.
Philadelphia, PA
Joined December 2012
- Tweets32.5K
- Following2.2K
- Followers26K
- Likes48.3K
Pinned Tweet
Publication day! AUTHORITARIANS IN THE ACADEMY is officially out. Thanks to everyone, especially my colleagues at @TheFIREorg and my publisher @JHUPress, who helped me get this from an idea to a draft to a finished book. It’s available for purchase now.
Sarah McLaughlin retweeted
My analysis for @pressfreedom on Egypt’s unprecedented crackdown on the press, from jailing the entire Matsdaash newsroom to putting @MadaMasr Editor-in-Chief Lina Attalah on trial. I look at how authorities have turned journalism itself into a crime. cpj.org/2026/10/whos-next-in…
Sarah McLaughlin retweeted
The UK continues to demonstrate why the First Amendment is necessary. A teenager was arrested for posts about a politician, including the below edited photo of him captioned, "Nibble… nibble… crunch… crunch Can you hear it? That's the sound of a rabbit devouring the last remaining shreds of Wolverhampton Conservatives' credibility."
As @sarahemclaugh put it, "The First Amendment is truly the barrier between us and these kinds of arrests, police showing up on your door because they didn’t like what you tweeted."
My first brush with anonymity was in childhood, in a Catholic confessional. As I write in @BostonGlobe, I think we forget how important anonymity is in our daily lives. It's so routine that we don't even notice we use it.
But we'll miss it when it's gone. And that day is coming.
There is no “one weird trick!” to solving broader political problems, and censorship certainly is not that miracle cure.
But again and again, leaders even in democratic nations are reaching for censorship as the quick fix.
The latest example? France’s riots and unrest.
Sarah McLaughlin retweeted
The death of internet anonymity is looming, bringing with it severe implications for our free speech rights. And no one seems to want to stop it.
Laws aimed at protecting children online could have serious unintended consequences.
📰 @BostonGlobe
🖊️ @sarahemclaugh
Anonymity is one of the best guards we have against consequences ranging from social embarrassment to overt government oppression. So why are we giving it up without a fight?
My latest at @BostonGlobe on free speech, anonymity, and the changing internet: bostonglobe.com/2026/10/20/m…
Sarah McLaughlin retweeted
My colleague @sarahemclaugh on the growing threat to our right to speak anonymously online, both here in the United States and abroad: "Americans are mobilizing against that sick feeling you get from suspecting you are always watched."
bostonglobe.com/2026/10/20/m…
Sarah McLaughlin retweeted
Iran’s use of mass executions to instil fear of any dissent. The latest case is that of Najmeh Amini, sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment for taking part in the January protests, and now facing the death sentence for blasphemy: theguardian.com/global-devel…
Good news: Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court has overturned the death sentence handed down to a Sri Lankan migrant worker for blasphemy. Whether he will remain imprisoned though is unclear. bbc.com/news/articles/c6x2v0…
A migrant worker in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to death for posting blasphemy in a Facebook comment. tamilguardian.com/index.php/…
