Is free speech under threat in the world's leading democracies — including Germany and the United States?

In this episode of Over Here, Over There — the podcast across borders, host Claudia Koestler talks with Jacob Mchangama, Danish lawyer, professor at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), and author of Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media, recorded live at the Amerikahaus in Munich.

Mchangama is one of the foremost global experts on free speech, civil liberties, and democratic backsliding. In this wide-ranging conversation, he argues that we are living through a global free speech recession — and that both Europe and the United States are moving in a more speech-restrictive direction, each for very different reasons.
In this episode:

🇩🇪 Why free speech in Germany is fundamentally different from the US — and what history has to do with it
🇺🇸 How the Trump administration is challenging democratic norms — and why the First Amendment is the last line of defense
🌍 The "global free speech recession" — which countries are getting it right (Taiwan, Hungary, Denmark) and which are not
📱 Social media, algorithms, and disinformation — are platforms really radicalizing users?
⚖️ Hate speech laws vs. free expression: where should the line be drawn?
🏛️ What democracies must do to protect themselves — without becoming what they fear
🤖 AI, information access, and why you must never outsource your mind

Key quote from this episode:"Free speech is the first freedom of a democracy — without it, none of the other rights or democratic processes are really possible." — Jacob Mchangama

About Over Here, Over There: :Over Here, Over There is a transatlantic podcast hosted by Claudia Koestler and Dan Harris, sharing and comparing news, politics, culture, and current affairs across the Atlantic. Recorded often at iconic and esteemed venues.

🎙️ Subscribe for new episodes every other week.
📍 Recorded at Amerikahaus München, Munich, Germany.