Nonprofits & Activism
Let’s Get Real About Free Speech | Greg Lukianoff | TED
“Too many people believe in something closer to freedom from speech rather than freedom of speech,” says attorney Greg Lukianoff. In a timely talk, he warns against the rise of “mob censorship” — and reminds us why free speech is the best check on power ever invented. (Recorded at TED2025 on April 9, 2025) Join…
Nonprofits & Activism
Meeting in the Middle Isn’t Enough for Today’s Trickiest Debates | Bill Heck & Stephanie Lepp | TED
Can art help us usefully address polarizing issues such as gender, abortion or race? In a performance of “Faces of X” — a series that seeks to reframe culture-war clashes — actor Bill Heck stages different sides of a debate between capitalism’s champions and its critics, illuminating a new way to grapple with complex realities.…
Nonprofits & Activism
The Blueprint for Serving a Million School Lunches — Every Day | Wawira Njiru | TED
Sometimes feeding just one child can seem challenging. Not for entrepreneur Wawira Njiru, who’s gone from serving lunch to 25 children from a makeshift kitchen to establishing her nonprofit, Food4Education, as a cornerstone of Kenya’s school meals system. Currently serving half a million meals to children every day, she’s now thinking even bigger. Hear about…
Nonprofits & Activism
Why You Should Be Able to Vote on Your Phone | Bradley Tusk | TED
The US political system is broken — and the solution might be in the palm of your hands, says political strategist Bradley Tusk. Drawing on his deep experience with government and technology, he makes the case for allowing Americans to vote on their phones, explaining how it can be done safely and securely. Learn why…
NASA’s Artemis II Launches to the Moon: Everything That Happened in 12 Minutes
The best free comedy show may be in your backyard #TEDTalks
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@denniskatinas
July 8, 2025 at 11:08 am
Free speech is free speech. Deal with it.
@kpNov23
July 8, 2025 at 11:30 am
Not that simple: ” free speech is free speech.” You missed his point at the beginning
@denniskatinas
July 8, 2025 at 11:34 am
@@kpNov23No, there is no point, just fairy dust. Free speech is free speech. Nothing else matters.
@6891BJ
July 8, 2025 at 12:15 pm
Certainty is the mind killer.
@BonnieShadow33
July 8, 2025 at 3:34 pm
Slander and Libel are crimes according to US law. Are you saying they shouldn’t be crimes?
@ryanisacuc8381
July 8, 2025 at 11:12 am
Free speech will only be attacked by the most evil of tyrants.
@PaulTheadra
July 8, 2025 at 11:21 am
Sexual health should be free speech protected
@Adam_BOW2IAM
July 8, 2025 at 12:38 pm
What is sexual health? And how is it an expression of speech?
@whcolours9995
July 8, 2025 at 11:24 am
John Stuart Mill talks about this
@Harrock
July 8, 2025 at 11:38 am
“Meinungsfreiheit” in german “Freedom of Opinion” ! Is NOT “Freedom of Speech” you have the freedom to have your own Opinion, debate about it , BUT be aware of the consequences what you say ! You can NOT just spread false informations about someone and Hurt this person nd claim it as “Freedom of Speech”
@ChollieD
July 8, 2025 at 12:03 pm
Your feelings are YOUR problem to manage. No one can be expected to know what’s going to trigger you feeling bad. Libel and slander are not covered under freedom of speech anyway, so you have no right to conflate your emotional state with actual facts about the world. Many things are under dispute, and “WAAAH MY FEELINGS” is the argument of a baby who doesn’t belong in adult conversations.
@Harrock
July 8, 2025 at 12:08 pm
@@ChollieD yes you can … its called “Empathy” !
@hobotechMASTER
July 8, 2025 at 12:35 pm
@@Harrock yeah everyone should have so much empathy that speaking is just flat right forbidden. get a life dude
@isaacnoneyabizz9630
July 8, 2025 at 2:26 pm
@@ChollieDthat’s not what they were saying, you just represented them correctly by saying libel and slander aren’t protected. Then misrepresented them by presenting the wahh my feelings argument when they spoke nothing about feelings.
@BonnieShadow33
July 8, 2025 at 3:29 pm
@@ChollieD I didn’t see anything in the OP’s comment about their feelings. They used capitalization to emphasize words, to make their point very strongly – but that doesn’t mean they’re whining about their feelings getting hurt. You’re absolutely correct that libel and slander are separate from free speech – which was their point. But nowhere in their comment were they even talking about their feelings.
@barbarahunc1357
July 8, 2025 at 11:40 am
It’s important to teach our children technique of argumentation and conversation
@rondaykhamard8224
July 8, 2025 at 11:41 am
He spoke well on free speech in theory. However, SOME PEOPLE don’t need free speech when it comes to them harboring the facilitation of diminishing someone’s existence. Those SOME people should STFU.
@Adam_BOW2IAM
July 8, 2025 at 12:39 pm
Example so I can understand better?
@RealKisht
July 8, 2025 at 1:54 pm
@@Adam_BOW2IAM there isn’t one. the commenter is just very sensitive.
@Mmmmmmdonuts
July 8, 2025 at 3:07 pm
No you are wrong, everyone should have free speech that way we know who the shitheads are.
@dacolsson
July 8, 2025 at 11:53 am
Nice talk. Just I feel like something really important was omitted. When dealing with freedom (and so also with freedom of speech): you’re freedom ends when someone’s else freedom starts.
@Adam_BOW2IAM
July 8, 2025 at 12:37 pm
What does that mean to you “your freedom ends when someone else’s freedom begins” ? Because I don’t understand it’s point.
@JenSAN4105
July 8, 2025 at 1:04 pm
Not if you don’t base your own freedom on what others can’t do. Freedom is not determined by others. Your “freedom” ends when it begins to encroach on the rights of others.
@dacolsson
July 8, 2025 at 5:02 pm
@@JenSAN4105yes you explained it perfectly, thanks for clarifying! That’s what I meant, I think mine was a poor translation from my native language 🙂
@JenSAN4105
July 8, 2025 at 5:16 pm
@@dacolsson ok. In English, it made it sound like freedom is lost to the freedom of another. But freedom is only limited by upholding the rights of others. And that is a justified limitation of freedom. Thank you for responding. 🙂 It’s good to know that we meant the same thing. Just a little misunderstanding across languages.
@antonioas709
July 8, 2025 at 12:07 pm
But it’s happening on both sides
@leviefrauim1425
July 8, 2025 at 5:39 pm
No, it’s not. This is a modern left issue.
@M.J44
July 8, 2025 at 12:07 pm
This is a right-wing circle-J with cherrypicked examples, complete with AI slop. You wanna talk free speech? Why don’t you talk about hate speech. Racism, sexism, general bigotry. Oh wait, you’re right-wing. You self-victimize and have the critical thinking skills of a toddler.
Screw this talk. They let any dork spout their garbage these days.
I’m sure I’m gonna get a tonna hate comments from right-wing losers about how “the left are the violent ones” meanwhile our neighbors who haven’t done a single thing criminally are being deported.
In a time where the right is allowed to lie about our very citizens and deport whoever they don’t like, you put a sophistric lemon onstage to spout his nonsense.
You want the freedom to lie without consequences? You’ll see the kind of world you create. Spoilers, it’s trash.
@jaguar_dinosaur
July 8, 2025 at 1:17 pm
Correction: “just because you’re a POS doesn’t mean you’re always wrong”
@ironnoodle7992
July 8, 2025 at 3:57 pm
…although it is possible that you are. Only in dialog can we determine the extent.
@geordiedog1749
July 8, 2025 at 1:26 pm
Not too sure about this, overall. Too many nuances missed out. Sort of a ‘beginners guide’ thing. Expect something a bit more at a TED.
@BonnieShadow33
July 8, 2025 at 3:22 pm
Please share some of the nuances you think were left out.
@Heretical_Theology
July 9, 2025 at 7:58 am
@@BonnieShadow33 When something is blatantly false and dangerous, someone not only has the right to shut it down, but obligation to.
@michaeltrumper
July 9, 2025 at 12:30 pm
@@Heretical_Theology Yes, you have the freedom to respond with speech to something that you think is blatantly false or dangerous.
@Heretical_Theology
July 9, 2025 at 2:10 pm
Nope. Not what I said. Ironic that a person with Trumper in his name can’t read or is intentionally twisting what I said.
Bye now.
@MrDantyson
July 8, 2025 at 3:26 pm
There is a fatal flaw to this argument; how do you police people who say things in bad faith?
It’s one thing to say “we should all get to know what people really think”. This does not account for the unbelievable amount of dog whistles going on in right wing spaces right now.
When a right winger says that Isreal has a right to defend itself, what they mean is they want all Palestinians to be killed.
The premise of these four truths, is that folks are sharing their legitimate positions and interests. When you are dealing with fascists, who lie about what they’re saying, and what they’re saying means, that premise is out the window.
@Zerobob26
July 8, 2025 at 3:42 pm
Ever since they started policing Twitter/X, private WhatsApp groups, and incarcerating people for ambiguous “hate” crimes, freedom of speech has all but disappeared here in the UK. The worst thing is, people can’t see it.
@leviefrauim1425
July 8, 2025 at 5:39 pm
The modern left are the ones constantly calling for suppression of free speech and yet the left once claimed to be a party of free speech. No, they have devolved into actual tyrant-wannabe’s. All due respect to this speaker, he fails to note this. It’s not the conservatives, it’s not republicans, it’s not MAGA, it’s not constitutionalists who are restricting free speech- it’s the left en toto.
@jimm.6542
July 9, 2025 at 3:36 am
First, you need to properly identify what the first amendment is meant to protect people from. It’s meant to protect us from persecution by the government to our criticisms of it. Look no further than the current administration snatching people off the street because they criticized the government’s involvement in Gaza.
Free speech isn’t about getting online to bully and slander other human beings. That’s a selfishly childish perspective and NOT what the founding fathers meant to address. The current president definitely is the worst offender of both immature bullying of anyone who criticizes him and employing retaliatory governance of its citizens in my lifetime…….and I was born before the Civil Rights Act.
@davidlaird7993
July 8, 2025 at 6:47 pm
Champion The Freedom of speech, an inalienable quality. Freedom of Speech is a granted right.
@patrickfairchild474
July 8, 2025 at 8:59 pm
Didn’t know Israel got into TED…😂
@azharalibhutto1209
July 8, 2025 at 10:22 pm
Great ❤❤❤ work
@rsjuliao
July 8, 2025 at 11:01 pm
alou Monark esse vídeo é pra você
@angusrocks939
July 9, 2025 at 1:49 am
you can say you don’t like me. I can say I don’t like you. neither of us can commit any physical gesture upon one another.
@StephaneDesnault
July 10, 2025 at 4:05 pm
Interesting. My post was censored?
@StephaneDesnault
July 10, 2025 at 4:11 pm
Interesting. Apparently, if I try to answer you, my post disappears.
@crazyashlii
July 9, 2025 at 2:09 am
Humans most certainly have the right to express themselves and be heard, however “Freedom of Speech” should not equal “Freedom of Consequences”. We must always hold ourselves and others accountable and responsible for their words and actions. This in turn should encourage the behaviour of critical thought before just freely word vomiting.
A quote that I discovered over a decade ago that has significantly helped me:
“Ask yourself the three things you must always ask yourself before you say anything:
1) Does this need to be said?
2) Does this need to be said by me?
3) Does this need to be said by me right now?”
― Craig Ferguson
@KrishShaw009
July 9, 2025 at 6:25 am
Who is Craig
@A.shk9
July 9, 2025 at 3:38 am
Awesome
@MomoBagel
July 9, 2025 at 6:10 am
These are all very cool things, provided that we are all human beings and live in the same world (say: on the same estate we have the same problems and can somehow get along with each other). And that we all just want to talk to each other to exchange opinions. But if a large part of us (i.e. the entities that produce or utter information) are not humans but bots controlled by someone or something who wants to manipulate the rest, or artificial intelligence that works according to different algorithms than human ones, then freedom of speech is not so clear anymore. Everyone has their own opinion, and that opinion should be equally protected. But who is everyone? What if that opinion is a falsehood that is spread by someone or something in a hybrid information war to manipulate groups of people? those opinions should be protected too? Because it tells us something? Yes it tells us something, but by the way it affects us. If opinions, and views information can be treated as viruses (viral from latin word virus) and, after all, that’s how we treat them then agreeing to the spread of these viruses can cost us dearly.
@deniseward002
July 10, 2025 at 2:11 pm
It costs us even more dearly when we restrict speech. It is always better to know the mind of the enemy than not know. Preventing speech means we don’t learn how to recognize or deal with speech that is injurious or senseless. Plus it makes people censor themselves which stilts our speaking manner. We need to deal with things “in real time” instead of have all these silly rules. It is best for ALL speech to be free and we can deal with all the kinds of speech as they occur. I am sure this will break us out into faster evolution than being stifled all the time “just in case” someone says something untoward.
@SyntheticFuture
July 9, 2025 at 7:13 am
Right in the first minute you make a mistake. You are absolutely “allowed” to shut down the broadcasting of false information. What you are saying falls in line with the conservative wave of “free speech” where pedaling any bullshit is now the norm. But in a functioning society if you spread misinformation you should be shut down to protect people who are unable to discern fact from lie.
@PerryFein
July 9, 2025 at 9:53 am
Very optimistic of you to put so much trust in the government to decide what is and isn’t true.
@adhocrat1
July 9, 2025 at 11:04 am
what a bunch of totalitarian nonsense. You are NOT the arbiter of truth
@SyntheticFuture
July 9, 2025 at 11:50 am
@@PerryFeinthe neat thing is that these days you can almost follow wars on a hour to hour base. If you want to you can experience all the joy of ptsd without having to risk your life. It’s a little thing called social media. Go watch some videos of starving people being shot by the military while they are trying to get food from a military controlled food distribution point. No government needed to see that stuff these days. Heck you can even bypass “traditional media” if you want to. It’s also not that hard to find that same army destroying infrastructure, leveling houses and destroying agriculture with the only goal of starving a population. This genocide is very easy to confirm by yourself. And it is 100% something you can’t justify in any way.
@deniseward002
July 10, 2025 at 2:22 pm
“Misinformation” needs to be shut down by argument, not taken down by wrest. It’s just the easiest way because no adult has the extra right to decide what is “misinformation”. That is simply a word that was cast into the population by the mind controllers so they could stop information about THEM, getting out.
@Heretical_Theology
July 9, 2025 at 8:15 am
When something is blatantly false and dangerous, someone not only has the right to shut it down, but an obligation to. The speaker was promoting racist and genocidal ideology against Palestinians. Words and opinions have consequences, and if your opinion is ethnic cleansing then your opinion (false and dangerous information) does not deserved to be heard. In fact it’s justice to shut it down. As the TED speaker said, not all speech is protected. Case in point, why this pro Israeli speaker was shut down.
We can have “freedom of speech” about very contrasting ideas, but freedom of speech, however, is a very convenient turn of phrase commonly used by people who wish to use their speech to promote ideas to harm others, as the speaker at Berkeley was attempting to do.
@newlearner8701
July 9, 2025 at 8:25 am
So I can say free palastine here 🍉
@SssuperLive
July 9, 2025 at 9:27 am
There is no freedom of speech) If there was, everyone would swear 24-7 and send each other. That’s why there are laws and regulations, people are limited. I think that we even live worse than a couple of centuries ago, and there is much more slavery in the world than in the entire history of mankind
@SyddG
July 9, 2025 at 12:58 pm
It is ironic to watch this video, that I appreciated, on a platform that heavily censors (via removing or shadow-banning) the comments of it’s users.
@ltybc425
July 9, 2025 at 2:35 pm
yes!
@wolfgangstrange9313
July 9, 2025 at 7:35 pm
Well said
@ForAnAngel
July 9, 2025 at 7:43 pm
The people spouting hateful rhetoric always seem to be the loudest
@schwartzgii
July 9, 2025 at 8:16 pm
Sadly, when the words are cruel and nobody acts it can escalate and become “real” violence.
@nicholas2149
July 9, 2025 at 9:40 pm
I think that’s essentially incitement, an exception to free speech cited in the video, no?
@deniseward002
July 10, 2025 at 2:00 pm
Yes that’s true however it is much more preferable than censorship because censorship can cause much more violence. And not just violence but ignorance because it means information can be hidden from the public and information is actually what enriches us. They are keeping us backward by keeping “certified” documents because we could all be enjoying things like free energy by now.
@jezebelinadancer
July 9, 2025 at 11:45 pm
….hmmm. this must explain why people are Homeless and marginalized all over the US? And people who capitalize upon and USE us all are financially well off and getting more so everyday? /snark
@Laterprater
July 10, 2025 at 6:02 am
The rules of Democracy can become the rules of a Dictator in 1 second, it does not take longer then that. The US discussion on free speech is just crazy, they learned something on school when saluting their flag and believing their country is the greatest in the world. Discussing the freedom of speech while ignoring the propaganda and national sentiment makes this discussion incomplete. The whole framework around the freedom of speech makes it almost impossible in debating this subject, so normal logics are no longer valid inside that discussion.
The American interpretation of Freedom of Speech that’s the real problem….
@deniseward002
July 10, 2025 at 2:14 pm
I think in “real life” things are different to “online life”. On the internet, all speech must remain free and we need to defend it with vigor. There is no way to harm someone when speaking online. Sure people can get hurt, but we can’t be responsible for individual sensitivity. Those who feel that way need to learn how to respond or not respond. Adults are supposed to have agency not being children anymore with someone to hold their hand. You seem to have a similar outlook to free speech as I do. I say, let it all out and we deal with it as it comes.
@leekenneth-walsh3545
July 10, 2025 at 7:21 am
Well said! Very important given that attacks on free speech are everywhere these past few years
@samuelzev4076
July 10, 2025 at 8:19 am
Another thing that most people forget is that free speech only constitutes opinion that are not considered hateful or threaten the life of others. In regards to the pro Palestine protests, it is unfortunately a call to violence as supporting the Palestinian cause is the same as supporting terrorism since it was and still is the Palestinian themselves wo appointed Hamas as government for the past 75 years. You cannot cry out genocide when you purposely elect a terrorist government to kill civilians in another sovereign state. These are rules and consequences. Play stupid games win stupid prizes
@ExistentialWolf
July 10, 2025 at 8:22 am
free speech destroy poolestine 😀
@toiyeunucuoi
July 10, 2025 at 8:52 am
TED is trying really hard to defend the genocidal state, huh?
@PreethamMuneshwar-o1k
July 10, 2025 at 9:50 am
$BEL Bellarium is still a sleeper pick — that’s the best time to load up.
@GurNoor-x1m
July 10, 2025 at 10:17 am
I’ve got Bellarium locked in — not selling for anything under 25x.
@ankitaadhikary6468
July 10, 2025 at 10:57 am
Bellarium could lead this quarter’s wave of low-cap monsters.
@StephaneDesnault
July 10, 2025 at 11:06 am
You’re saying:
Free Speech makes us safer
Free Speech cures violence
Free Speech protects the powerless
Even bad people can have good ideas
But what passes for “Free Speech” in your country today has been hollowed out, transformed from a safeguard into a silencing tool. You say you’re fighting “mob censorship,” yet what you defend enables the very thing you denounce: coordinated suppression, platform control, and mass manipulation masquerading as freedom.
What we’re witnessing isn’t free speech—it’s confiscated speech:
Weaponized by media conglomerates and social platforms
Curated by algorithms that amplify outrage and bury nuance
Exploited by powerful figures to disinform, scapegoat, and erode public trust
Let’s unpack your claims:
Free Speech makes us safer?
Not when it’s used to sabotage vaccination efforts during a global health crisis. Not when algorithms spread misinformation faster than verified fact. Not when dissenting voices are drowned out by paid influence and bot-driven rage.
Free Speech cures violence?
Not when the highest office in your country repeatedly paints entire communities (migrants, the poor, the vulnerable) as dangerous others. That isn’t speech aimed at truth; it’s speech engineered for fear.
Free Speech protects the powerless?
Not when it’s weaponized to make them scapegoats. Free speech should be a shield, not a branding iron wielded by the loudest or richest, or the ones seeking power via the promotion of hatred.
Even bad people can have good ideas?
Sure, but the issue isn’t who’s “bad.” The issue is: how do we distinguish truth from manipulation, fact from fiction, dissent from disinformation?
Because when lies, slurs, and propaganda are protected as speech, it’s not truth that wins. It’s the mob. And the mob doesn’t reason. It points fingers. It decides who the “bad people” are.
I’m proud to live in a country where TRUTH matters. Where deliberate deception and personal insults aren’t tolerated in public discourse.
I live in France, where public insults, racial slurs, and inflammatory declarations, especially from candidates, are prosecuted by law, with significant fines and automatic disqualification from public office. Trump’s rhetoric, had it been voiced here, would have landed him in court, and then jail, not on a campaign trail.
TRUTH makes us safer
TRUTH cures violence
TRUTH protects the powerless
TRUTH protects us from being labeled “bad people”
The First Amendment was never meant to be a license for lies, insults and slurs. It was meant to be a safeguard for democracy. Today, its spirit is betrayed by oligarchic control, bot armies, and algorithmic rage-machines masquerading as platforms for discourse.
If this is the free speech you defend, it demands a reckoning—not a celebration.
@StephaneDesnault
July 10, 2025 at 3:37 pm
It’s interesting how you equate “free speech” with the right to present your thoughts to a captive audience that doesn’t want to listen to it. You take the example of Ann Coulter, and I’ll be honest, I have no idea who she is, or what the speech she would have delivered would have been. But is she in any way deprived of free speech because some people, in some places, don’t want to listen to her? Because it seems that what you’re defending is actually not free speech, it’s forced indoctrination? Ann Coulter can speak, and write, and I imagine as she seems to be famous, have space in newspapers and on TV… Your notion of “free speech” smells Orwellian. The exact opposite of what it’s supposed to be. Free Speech is NOT the right for anyone to IMPOSE their opinion on non-willing participants.