Ask an Expert: Free Speech

Our audience asked us hundreds of questions about free speech, and we answered.

Kendall Ciesemier, she/her/hers, Host of At Liberty and Senior Executive Producer of Multimedia, American Civil Liberties Union

In today’s world — whether in classrooms or on social media platforms — many people are conflicted and confused by what actually constitutes free speech. That’s why we figured now would be an excellent time to talk about it. We sourced questions over email, our phone line, and social media, and received hundreds of responses from our audience.

After sorting through the questions, we produced a three-part “Ask an Expert” series on our At Liberty podcast channel featuring the ACLU’s Director of Speech, Privacy, and Technology and legal advisor to Edward Snowden, Ben Wizner. Listen below as Ben answers supporter questions about the First Amendment.


The ACLU remains committed to defending our fundamental right to free speech. Most recently, the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology team has been working to fight against classroom censorship bills and book bans taking hold in classrooms and libraries nationwide, to defend our right to freedom of expression online, and to support our First Amendment right at the Supreme Court, among other work.

For more from our Ask an Expert series and weekly episodes on today’s most pressing civil rights and civil liberties issues, subscribe to At Liberty wherever you get your podcasts.