A victory for free speech or for disinformation? That is the 44-billion dollar question after Elon Musk's swoop for Twitter. Does it matter any more than Amazon's Jeff Bezos owning The Washington Post or all the French captains of industry whose often money-losing media purchases buy them a platform to voice their views?

Amnesty said that many governments had used the pandemic as an opportunity to further restrict freedom of expression. It also cited the role of social media in the spread of misinformation.

Media outlets and activists fear that new regulations give unchecked powers to the government to censor digital content and curb press freedom.

Is free speech racist?

Hundreds of demonstrators are taking to the streets in San Francisco to protest against hate groups that had planned to hold a free-speech rally in the city before it was cancelled by organizers.

Verbal altercations erupted and several demonstrators were arrested as thousands in Boston protest a "Free Speech" rally featuring right-wing speakers, with hundreds of police mobilized to prevent a recurrence of violence that left a woman dead at last week's Charlottesville rally.