Free Speech & Press

Many experts fear uncivil and manipulative behaviors on the internet will persist – and may get worse.

Large majorities of the public, Republicans and Democrats alike, say open and fair elections and a system of governmental checks and balances are essential to maintaining a strong democracy in the United States.

Americans used President Obama's "We the People" online petitioning system to address health care, veterans’ issues and illnesses among other issues. But the impact of petitions was modest and varied.

Enshrined in the Bill of Rights, free expression is a bedrock American principle, and Americans tend to express stronger support for free expression than many others around the world.

Americans and Europeans often have different perspectives on individualism, the role of government, free expression, religion and morality.

Many people around the world consider free expression in cyberspace to be a fundamental right.

That's compared with 27% of Gen Xers and 24% of Boomers who say the same.

Although many observers have documented a global decline in democratic rights in recent years, people around the world nonetheless embrace fundamental democratic values, including free expression. A new Pew Research Center survey finds that majorities in nearly all 38 nations polled say it is at least somewhat important to live in a country with free […]

Following the attacks on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, U.S. public opinion of the appropriateness of the magazine’s cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad show a tension between free expression and religious tolerance.

While social media sites were the most common place noted for online harassment in a recent Pew Research Center survey, about a fifth of internet users cited website comments sections as places where they had that experience.