Does The Us Have The Most Freedom Of Speech

Does the US have the most freedom of speech in the world?

Arguably, yes.Like all rights, freedom of speech exists on a spectrum. It’s not absolute anywhere, even in the U.S. But free speech in the U.S. is more protected than anywhere else in the world.Freedom of Speech is a fundamental right. It’s the guarantee that you can speak truth to power, and try to convince others of the correctness of your position — without being afraid that you will be thrown in a dark hole somewhere, or have your assets seized. But it broadens out to include freedom of the press, freedom of association, and the freedom to participate in the political process.And that’s a reflection of who we are as a people. A Pew Foundation poll of 38 countries found that Americans were the most tolerant of free speech and press freedom.Most countries have some some guarantee of freedom of speech, but almost all of them have significant exceptions carved out for morals, religion, politics, public order or government secrets.For example, the European Convention contains this caveat:The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or the rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.That’s kind of a big exception. It could be read to justify just about any governmental incursion on private speech.In the U.S., free speech rights have steadily expanded throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, as the courts have interpreted the First Amendment with an ever-broader brush. There are no hate speech restrictions. Prior restrictions on publishing are almost unheard of. Libel plaintiffs must meet a very high burden of proof — and prove financial damage.Speech that is obscene is proscribed, but that definition has been narrowed to the point where it applies mostly to child pornography — and that is based upon the presumed harm to children from the acts depicted, as opposed to the depictions themselves. Speech that incites imminent lawless behavior can be prohibited, but in practice it’s almost unheard of.

Which country has the most freedom of speech?

The United States pretty much tops the list when it comes to freedom of speech.Libel and slander are very high bars to meet in the USA. Unless it is known to be untrue, prove that the speech caused palpable harm to you and demonstrably so at the time the speaker uttered the speech, it is pretty much impossible to sue someone for either and prevail.The bar for such in the UK is much, much lower.The USA has no “hate speech” or “offensive speech” laws. There are some limits on certain profane speech being spoken or printed in the public space but this gets you a fine, not jail time. And then only in public spaces or on public airwaves. Private speech is pretty much unrestricted. Even the most vile, hateful, horrible speech is protected conduct in the USA.Try denying the Holocaust in Germany. Try complaining about Islam in Canada.The USA has no political or insult speech restrictions. A public figure better be able to take it because they have no ability to do anything about it. People are free to insult US politicians and institutions freely. Want to stop or set fire to the US flag? Go ahead. Want to call the President a slimy bastard? You can print it and hold it on a sign outside his house.There are a lot of places in the world where denigrating, protesting or otherwise saying disparaging things about their leaders will get you a variety of punishments. From being thrown into a prison cell up to execution. This is the norm in much of the world, not the exception.There are no political dissidents or political prisoners in prison in the USA.Even countries that have freedom of speech place more restrictions on its exercise than the USA does. Many get close to the USA but none match or exceed it when it comes to freedom of speech.

Do people in the US have greater freedom of speech than people in any other country?

Americans have an effective freedom of speech equal to the people of most western, liberal democracies (for example): France, the UK, Canada, Australia, Spain, and Netherlands. Where Americans have a slight edge is in the relatively iron clad protection that comes from the First Amendment. The named nations have laws on their books that are enforced that would never withstand constitutional muster in the US:Official Secrets Act of the UK is too far reaching into limitations on the Media for the SCOTUS to tolerate. Germany, France, Australia, and Canada have hate speech laws that would never be legal here. Most of Western Europe have banned holocaust denial. Something legally impossible in the US. Germany and Israel have banned Nazism (or any rebranding of the same) in electoral politics. This isn't legal in the US. That said, in terms of effective usage, there is little appreciable difference in the wide reaching protections in these nations afforded to freedom of speech.

Which country has the most freedom of speech (even more than the USA)?

Nobody.The US isn’t always first. A lot of Americans have a really stilted view about their freedoms (in particular, freedom of things like economic mobility and freedom of the press). So the knee jerk response is typically to “correct” Americans that come in like a bull in a china shop saying, “USA! USA! USA!” And for THAT, we Americans do deserve the criticism we get and should take it like grown-ups.But this time it is the USA.The really free “other” nations (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Finland, the UK, Germany and a handful of others) all have various laws that curtail how you use your freedom of speech. That’s not a “value judgment”, it’s just the reality in those countries. They don’t see things that they define as “hate speech” as something worth protecting, so they have various laws restricting that behavior. (This, of course, ignores other nations with varying degrees of freedom who are “industrializing”, like Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Nigeria, Indonesia, Thailand, Russia, China, India, etc. who all range from “pretty darned free” to “ummmm, yeah, not all that free” — but all of them again either have a sketchy free-speech protection record or no freedom of speech at all.)The US is the only industrialized nation where you can stand in the street calling for a second Holocaust, burning a Quran and/or calling for a proletariat uprising to seize the means of production (while killing out the decadent bourgeois overlords) without much worry except for getting a black eye†. That may not meet your definition of “freedom of speech” but it is the most far sweeping current interpretation of that particular value. Very few nations spend as much time and attention limiting government interference with speech and religion as the US does.† People who live in DC, like Joshua Engel, will tell you precisely this. If you go to within a block of the White House (say, standing around in Lafayette Square), you’ll see people doing just this: those that pray for all gays to die, those that hate all Jews and black people, those that sing songs to IEDs that kill American soldiers, those that pray for the death of all Americans, those that want a popular uprising to topple the corporatist oligarchy, those that think that vaccines are secret mechanisms to kill you, those that want Trump to be impeached. They’re all there. We do a lot wrong in the US, but we take our protections of your right to protest / shriek your views out-loud VERY seriously.