The week in free expression: 22 August – 29 August 2025
Index rounds up of some of the key stories covering censorship and free expression from the past seven days
Latest news
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Silence in the valley: The brutal repression of Kashmiri writers
Works are banned and authors raided if they are seen to promote secession
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How a billionaire mogul pushed France’s media to the right
Vincent Bolloré, known as the "French Murdoch", dominates media on the other side of the Channel
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We’re going on a bear hunt: Spitting Image challenged over Paddington satire
The recent litigation against the satirical TV programme raises questions as to the Peruvian immigrant's meaning in British culture
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The week in free expression 10 October – 17 October
Index rounds up of some of the key stories covering censorship and free expression from the past seven days
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Spotlight: Global Encryption Day
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UK court rejects Home Office bid to hear Apple encryption case in secret
Index on Censorship, Big Brother Watch and Open Rights Group welcome ruling over UK Government attempts to gain backdoor access to data
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Rights groups call for Apple’s closed appeal against the Home Office’s encryption-breaching order to be opened to the public
Representatives of rights groups have written to the President of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal to call for Apple's case to be made public
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Breaking end-to-end encryption would be a disaster
Index launches campaign to highlight why politicians should not rush to add a "back door" to messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal
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“An attack on encryption unprecedented in any democracy”
The Online Safety Bill returns to the House of Commons for the first time in eight months on 11 September. This is the last chance the Government h...
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MAGAZINE
LATEST ISSUE: VOLUME 54.02 SUMMER 2025
Land of the Free?: Trump's war on speech at home and abroad
Has the USA, the so-called Land of the Free, become a dangerous country for those who question its government?
Such a notion is, of course, in opposition to the country’s founding principles. Enshrined in the 1791 First Amendment to the US Constitution are citizens’ fundamental freedoms – including freedom of religion, speech, the press, protest and petition. Conveniently glossing over its dark history of colonisation and slavery (which would continue for nearly a century after the First Amendment was ratified), it signified the USA as a global bastion of democracy, equality and civilised values. Now, Trump appears to be metaphorically setting fire to the paper these principles are written on.
This is having profound impacts within the USA and around the world. Trump was inaugurated for his second term only six months ago, but already he has sought to deport people for their views on Israel and Palestine; threatened universities with eye-watering financial sanctions if they do not adhere to his ideological viewpoints; slashed the budgets of state-funded broadcasters; deployed the National Guard to police protests, a tactic used by military dictatorships; and dismantled the US Agency for International Development (USAID), stopping the work of human rights groups globally.
In this edition, we explore these attacks on free speech at home and abroad.
Uncensored gallery
Index commissions censored and exiled artists from around the world to illustrate our magazine covers and feature stories. You can view some of their work here