free speech
Definition
Free speech refers to the perceived right of individuals or groups to publicly express dissent, protest, or political advocacy without coercive suppression by state or non-state actors. In the context of protest dynamics, the suppression of free speech is operationalised as the degree to which observers believe counter-protesters are forcibly silencing a social change movement. Across five survey studies spanning pro-democracy, immigrant rights, and environmental protest contexts, perceived counter-protest violence predicted heightened perceptions that protesters' free speech was being suppressed, which in turn increased public sympathy for the targeted movement. In Study 3, a violent White nationalist counter-protest produced mean suppression-of-free-speech ratings of 6.95 compared to 3.51 in the non-violent condition, with mediation confirming this pathway as the mechanism linking counter-protest violence to sympathy. Counter-protests that employ coercive tactics to silence protesters are thus characterised as a form of grassroots repression, functionally analogous to state repression in their effect on public attitudes.
Sources: Selvanathan et al. (2026)
Related Terms
- intergroup relations (1 shared article)
- collective action (1 shared article)
- counter-movements (1 shared article)
- social change (1 shared article)
Applications
Free Speech and Counter-protest Violence
Perceived counter-protest violence is a direct antecedent of free speech suppression perceptions. In Study 1, perceived counter-protest violence predicted perceived free speech suppression (b = 0.61, p < .001), and this suppression perception mediated the relationship between violence and sympathy for Hong Kong protesters (indirect b = 0.11, 95% CI [0.05, 0.19]). Study 2 replicated the mediated pathway for Thai pro-reform protests, and Study 3 demonstrated the effect experimentally, with a violent counter-protest more than doubling suppression ratings relative to a non-violent condition.
Sources: Selvanathan et al. (2026)
Free Speech and Public Sympathy for Social Change
Perceptions of free speech suppression function as a psychological mechanism through which counter-protest behaviour increases public sympathy for social change movements. When observers concluded that counter-protesters were suppressing the original protesters' expression, they reported greater sympathy for those protesters, a pattern that held across Australian, Thai, and American samples. This suggests that the perceived violation of a fundamental communicative right, rather than agreement with protesters' political goals alone, shapes third-party support for progressive movements.
Sources: Selvanathan et al. (2026)
