Uploaded February 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
13 February 2025, 1:00 pm–2:30 pm
Speaker: Professor Richard Moon (University of Windsor)
Commentators: Professor Myriam Hunter-Henin, Dr Bernard Keenan, and Professor Orla Lynskey
Chair: Professor Jeff King
Abstract
In this edition of the Public Law Seminar Series, hosted by the Global Centre for Democratic Constitutionalism at UCL Laws, scholar Richard Moon will present on his new book The Life and Death of Freedom of Expression (2024). Following his presentation, commentators will offer their remarks, leading into further discussion.
About the Book
In The Life and Death of Freedom of Expression, Richard Moon argues that freedom of expression is valuable because human agency and identity emerge in discourse – in the joint activity of creating meaning. Moon recognizes that the social character of individual agency and identity is crucial to understanding not only the value of expression but also its potential for harm.
The book considers a range of issues, including the regulation of advertising, hate speech, pornography, blasphemy, and public protest. The book also considers the shift to social media as the principal platform for public engagement, which has added to the ways in which speech can be harmful while undermining the effectiveness of traditional legal responses to harmful speech. The Life and Death of Freedom of Expression makes the case that the principal threat to public discourse may no longer be censorship, but it is rather the spread of disinformation, which undermines public trust in traditional sources of information and makes engagement between different positions and groups increasingly difficult.
13 February 2025, 1:00 pm–2:30 pm
Speaker: Professor Richard Moon (University of Windsor)
Commentators: Professor Myriam Hunter-Henin, Dr Bernard Keenan, and Professor Orla Lynskey
Chair: Professor Jeff King
Abstract
In this edition of the Public Law Seminar Series, hosted by the Global Centre for Democratic Constitutionalism at UCL Laws, scholar Richard Moon will present on his new book The Life and Death of Freedom of Expression (2024). Following his presentation, commentators will offer their remarks, leading into further discussion.
About the Book
In The Life and Death of Freedom of Expression, Richard Moon argues that freedom of expression is valuable because human agency and identity emerge in discourse – in the joint activity of creating meaning. Moon recognizes that the social character of individual agency and identity is crucial to understanding not only the value of expression but also its potential for harm.
The book considers a range of issues, including the regulation of advertising, hate speech, pornography, blasphemy, and public protest. The book also considers the shift to social media as the principal platform for public engagement, which has added to the ways in which speech can be harmful while undermining the effectiveness of traditional legal responses to harmful speech. The Life and Death of Freedom of Expression makes the case that the principal threat to public discourse may no longer be censorship, but it is rather the spread of disinformation, which undermines public trust in traditional sources of information and makes engagement between different positions and groups increasingly difficult.
