D. H. Lawrence`s 1928 novel Lady Chatterley`s Lover was banned for obscenity in a number of countries, including Britain, the United States, Australia and Canada. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, it was the subject of landmark court decisions that overturned the ban on obscenity. Dominic Sandbrook of the Telegraph in Britain wrote: “Now that public obscenity has become commonplace, it is difficult to return to the atmosphere of a society that has seen fit to ban books like Lady Chatterley`s Lover because it would risk `spoiling and corrupting` its readers.” [86] Fred Kaplan of The New York Times said that the repeal of obscenity laws in the United States “triggered an explosion of free speech.” [87] The 1960s also saw the Free Speech Movement, a massive and prolonged student protest on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley during the 1964-65 academic year. [88] In 1964, comedian Lenny Bruce was arrested in the United States. due to complaints, which in turn relate to his use of various blasphemies. A three-judge panel presided over his widely publicized six-month trial, during which he was convicted in November 1964. He was sentenced on 21 December 1964 to four months in a workhouse; He was released on bail during the appeal process and died before the appeal was decided. On December 23, 2003, thirty-seven years after Bruce`s death, New York Governor George Pataki posthumously pardoned him for his obscenity conviction. [89] One of the world`s first press freedom laws was introduced in Sweden in 1766, largely thanks to the classical liberal MP, the Ostrobothnian priest Anders Chydenius. [10] [11] [12] [13] Only vehement opposition to the King and Church of Sweden was exempt and punishable.

Freedom of expression is considered fundamental in a democracy. Standards restricting freedom of expression mean that public debate should not be completely suppressed, even when necessary. [18] One of the most notable proponents of the link between freedom of expression and democracy is Alexander Meiklejohn. He argued that the concept of democracy is that of the self-government of the people. For such a system to work, an informed electorate is needed. In order to be properly informed, there must be no restrictions on the free flow of information and ideas. According to Meiklejohn, democracy will not live up to its essential ideal if those in power are able to manipulate the electorate by withholding information and stifling criticism. Meiklejohn recognizes that the desire to manipulate opinions may stem from the motive of benefiting society.

However, he argues that the choice of manipulation in his means denies the democratic ideal. [20] The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most valuable human rights. Accordingly, any citizen may speak, write and print freely, but is responsible for such abuses of this freedom as defined by law. [15] In the United States, the First Amendment protects free speech. Freedom of speech, the right as set forth in the 1st and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, to express information, ideas, and opinions free from content-based government restrictions. A modern legal test of the legality of proposed restrictions on free speech was presented in the opinion of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. in Schenk v.

USA (1919): A restriction is legitimate only if the speech in question represents a “clear and present danger” – that is, a risk or threat to security or any other public interest that is serious and imminent. Many cases concerning freedom of expression and freedom of the press also involved defamation, obscenity and prior coercion (see Pentagon Papers). See also censorship. Eric Barendt called this defense of free speech on the basis of democracy “probably the most attractive and certainly the most fashionable theory of free speech in modern Western democracies.” [21] Thomas I. Emerson broadened this defense when he argued that free speech helps strike a balance between stability and change. Freedom of expression acts as a “safety valve” to let off steam when people would otherwise seek revolution. He argues that “the principle of open discussion is a method of achieving a more adaptable and at the same time more stable community in order to maintain the precarious balance between healthy division and necessary consensus.” Emerson further asserts that “opposition fulfills an important social function in balancing or improving the normal process of bureaucratic decadence.” [22] Jo Glanville, editor of the Index on Censorship, notes that “the Internet has been a revolution for both censorship and free speech.” [47] International, national and regional standards recognize that freedom of expression is a form of freedom of expression for any media, including the Internet. [17] The Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996 was the first major attempt by the U.S. Congress to regulate pornographic material on the Internet.