SCHEDULE

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2026

8:00 AM – 9:00 AM Continental Breakfast · The Forum

9:00 AM – 9:10 AM Welcome Remarks

9:15 AM – 9:50 AM Keynote Fireside Chat: Wikipedia, Free Speech, and the Future of Knowledge

  • Jimmy Wales — Founder of Wikipedia

  • Mike Masnick, Moderator — CEO & Editor, Copia Institute & Techdirt

9:50 AM – 10:00 AM Break 

10:00 AM – 10:40 AM Using Voice to Free Political Prisoners

  • Evan Mawarire — Founder, #THISFLAG

  • Mary Kate Cary, Moderator — Founding Executive Director, John and Sandy Miller National Academy for Free Expression and Pluralism, University of Denver

10:45 AM – 11:00 AM Lightning Talk: Digital Sovereignty

  • Jacob Mchangama — Founder and Executive Director, The Future of Free Speech

11:10 AM – 11:50 AM Concurrent Breakouts

Moderated Discussion: Battle for Books — Book Bans

  • Keri Lambert — Vice President, Rutherford County Library Alliance (RCLA) 

  • Lindsay Schultz — Owner, The Spine Bookshop 

  • Nadine Strossen, Moderator—Senior Fellow, FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression)

Open Source AI Content Moderation

  • Dave Willner — Co-Founder, Zentropi

11:50 AM – 12:40 PM Lunch · The Forum

12:40 PM – 1:20 PM Concurrent Breakouts

Interactive Workshop: The Democratic Leadership Experience

  • Nikola Ilic — CEO, ChangeLab

AI Laws, Chatbots, and the Future of Expression

  • Jordi Calvet-Bademunt — Senior Research Fellow, The Future of Free Speech 

  • Isabelle Anzabi — Research Associate, The Future of Free Speech

Tyranny Tracker — Human Rights Foundation

  • Javier El-Hage — Chief Legal & Policy Officer

1:25 PM – 2:05 PM Moderated Discussion: Antisemitism, Censorship, and Free Speech

  • Nadine Strossen — Senior Fellow, FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) 

  • Mark Sandler — Chair, Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism (ALCCA) 

  • Alexandra Hudson, Moderator—Founder, Civic Renaissance & bestselling author of The Soul of Civility

2:10 PM – 2:50 PM Moderated Discussion: Academic Freedom — Free Speech on Campus

  • Suzanne Nossel — Senior Adviser, Democracy House 

  • Lord Nigel Biggar —Regius Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology, University of Oxford 

  • Rikki Schlott, Moderator— Columnist, New York Post, and Media Fellow, Cato Institute

2:50 PM – 3:00 PM Break

3:00 PM – 3:40 PM Moderated Discussion: The Age Gate Debate

  • Taylor Lorenz — Technology Journalist

  • Iain Corby — Executive Director, Age Verification Providers Association 

  • Ashkhen Kazaryan, Moderator — Senior Legal Fellow, The Future of Free Speech

3:45 PM – 4:20 PM Fireside Chat: Global Threats to Free Speech

  • Sarah Rogers — Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy, U.S. Department of State 

  • Eugene Volokh, Moderator — Legal Scholar, Blogger, and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow

4:30 PM – 6:00 PM Networking Reception

Sponsored by FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression).

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2026

8:00 AM – 9:00 AM Continental Breakfast · The Forum

9:00 AM – 9:10 AM Welcome Back

9:15 AM – 9:25 AM Lightning Talk: PEW Research: Press Freedom, In Principle and In Practice

  • Katerina Eva Matsa, Presenter — Director, Pew Research Center

9:30 AM – 10:10 AM State of Free Speech in America, 250 Years Later

  • Eugene Volokh — Legal Scholar, Blogger, and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow 

  • Mary Anne Franks — Eugene L. and Barbara A. Bernard Professor in Intellectual Property, Technology, and Civil Rights Law, George Washington Law School 

  • Francesca Procaccini, Moderator— Associate Professor of Law, Vanderbilt Law School

10:10 AM – 10:20 AM Break 

10:20 AM – 11:00 AM Moderated Discussion: The Global Rise of Foreign Agent Laws

  • Félix Maradiaga — Nicaraguan Academic, Political Activist, and Former Presidential Candidate 

  • Eka Gigauri — Executive Director, Transparency International Georgia 

  • Beth Kerley, Moderator — Senior Program Officer, International Forum for Democratic Studies at the National Endowment for Democracy

11:10 AM – 11:50 AM Concurrent Breakouts

Brazil: Democracy and Free Speech

  • Noam Lupu —Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of Political Science, Vanderbilt University 

  • Jamil Assis — Director, Sivis Institute

A Moderated Conversation with the Authors of The Future of Free Speech: Reversing the Global Decline of Democracy’s Most Essential Freedom

  • Jacob Mchangama — Founder and Executive Director, The Future of Free Speech 

  • Jeff Kosseff — Nonresident Senior Legal Fellow, The Future of Free Speech 

  • Katrina Gulliver, moderator—Editorial Director, Foundation for Economic Education

11:50 AM – 12:40 PM Lunch· The Forum

12:40 PM – 1:20 PM Concurrent Breakouts

How to Create a Free Speech Movement

  • Toby Young — Director, Free Speech Union 

  • Mark Oppenheimer — Executive Director of the Free Speech Union of South Africa

Toolbox for Counterspeech

  • Natalie Alkiviadou — Senior Research Fellow, The Future of Free Speech 

  • Mina Dennert — Founder, I Am Here International

1:25 PM – 2:05 PM Moderated Conversation: On the Front Lines of Press Freedom

  • András Pethő — Executive Director, Direkt36 

  • Angele Latham — First Amendment Reporter, The Tennessean 

  • Kevin Goldberg, Moderator — VP, Freedom Forum

In partnership with Freedom Forum. 

2:10 PM – 2:45 PM Fireside Chat: Free Expression in Europe

  • Assita Kanko — Member of European Parliament for Belgium 

  • Nico Perrino, Moderator — Executive Vice President, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE)

2:45 PM – 2:55 PM Break 

3:00 PM – 3:15 PM Lightning Talk: How China Exports Censorship

  • Ge Chen —Associate Professor in Global Media and Information Law, Durham University

3:20 PM – 3:35 PM Lightning Talk: Using Technology to Circumvent Censorship

  • Ahmad Ahmadian — Founding Executive Director of Holistic Resilience

3:40 PM – 4:30 PM Fireside Chat: Human Flourishing Requires Openness to New Ideas and Dissent

  • Johan Norberg — Author, Speaker, and Historian of Ideas 

  • Jacob Mchangama, Moderator — Founder and Executive Director, The Future of Free Speech

4:30 PM – 6:00 PM Closing Reception