Dates: Tuesday and Wednesday, October 28-29, 2025
Times: Day One: noon-3:00 pm ET / 9:00 am-noon PT, Day Two: noon-3:00 pm ET / 9:00 am-noon PT
Governments have always worked to shape the speech of private parties and these efforts have always threatened overcensorship of dissent and governmentally disfavored viewpoints. The current Administration in the United States is taking this common phenomenon to new and dangerous heights, and the impacts are reverberating globally. Join us as we examine government pressure on speech intermediaries (also known as “jawboning”), particularly the Trump Administration’s efforts to shape online speech environments at universities, news outlets, online, and in other contexts.
This year’s Future of Speech Online event will explore recent court decisions that increase protections against jawboning and how we can use them and other tools to reduce inappropriate government pressure on speech platforms while maintaining essential communications. Additionally, speakers will examine the ways in which Section 230 might work to protect against censorship of vulnerable groups currently facing censorship including immigrants, trans youth, and public health practitioners. We will also take a look at efforts to regulate speech produced by generative AI.
Sessions will also look at agency efforts to dictate editorial choices, examining First Amendment limits on FCC and FTC authority to control or encourage particular editorial policies and the ways in which the agencies are trying to evade those limits. Finally, we will talk about the unprecedented attacks against the speech of non-citizens and the various ways the government is using social media monitoring tools to silence dissent. And we will spotlight experts who have directly experienced (or work on behalf of those who have experienced) government pressure aimed at undermining free expression.
Throughout the event, we’ll hear from legal experts, technologists, and policymakers about what’s at stake in this important year for democracy and free speech.
Accessibility: If you have questions, concerns, or access needs, please contact events@cdt.org in advance of the event.
Hosted by the Center for Democracy & Technology and Stand Together Trust, the Future of Speech Online conference is an annual event that brings together media, academics, corporations, advocates, and thought leaders to discuss today’s most pressing issues around free speech online.