Freedom of Expression versus Hate Speech: Limits and Their Changeability
Kristine Dupate · 2024
The main issue discussed in the present article is, as follows: whether the freedom of expression may be restricted, and whether it has actually been restricted in order to avoid hate speech in the situation of threat? The answer to this question is both ‘yes’ and ‘no’. ‘No’, because the criteria for distinction between freedom of expression and hate speech remains unchanged, and ‘yes’, because, firstly, the criterion of ‘the context’ becomes more ‘intense’ and ‘sensitive’, and, secondly, the ‘intensity’ and ‘sensitivity’ of the context may be reflected in national legal regulation by recognizing additional situations as hate speech. Meanwhile, ‘the context’ is always changing, therefore the borders between the freedom of expression and hate speech likewise vary perpetually.