Elon Musk’s imminent purchase of Twitter, and his view that free speech online should extend as far as the law allows, has led some progressive thinkers to exclaim their despair. But not so long ago, the fundamental distrust of anyone who wanted to restrict free speech was a pillar of progressive thought, even at the recognition that absolute free speech was not feasible or desirable. Revisiting some of those older arguments about why constraining free speech can lead to uncritical belief in authority is needed. That is not to say there should be no moderation of online speech when it comes to personal attacks. Conflating the freedom to dissent and even engage in conspiratorial thinking, with the freedom to attack others is a confusion that only libertarians make, and we should avoid, argues Peter Godfrey-Smith.

Many people, especially on the "progressive" side of politics, seem in recent years to have given up on a combination of views about free speech that was common not long ago. The position I have in mind is one that accepts that the basic principles and proper borders in this area are difficult matters, and an ideal of pure or absolute free expression is not feasible, but combines this recognition with a strong tendency to favor free expression in practice and to be habitually distrustful of restriction – expecting it to go too far, to misfire in various ways, and do more harm than good.