Opinion

JONATHAN TURLEY: France's free speech crackdown shows what happens when politicians define truth

From prosecuting comedians to backing the Digital Services Act, Paris has widened its censorship reach for decades

By Jonathan Turley Fox News

Published October 9, 2026 9:00am EDT | Updated October 9, 2026 6:11am EDT

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French President Emmanuel Macron went full Orwell recently. While long the darling of Western media, Macron has been one of the most anti-free-speech leaders in the world. On Sept. 29, he declared that "The so-called American ‘free speech’ today, which some people have promoted, is the opposite of free speech." Having Emmanuel Macron holding forth on free speech is akin to Joey Chestnut proselytizing on veganism.

France has been in a headlong plunge into censorship and speech criminalization. These laws criminalize speech under vague standards referring to "inciting" or "intimidating" others based on race or religion.

For example, fashion designer John Galliano was found guilty in a French court on charges of making antisemitic comments in a Paris bar in 2010 and 2011.

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In another case, the father of French conservative presidential candidate Marine Le Pen was fined because he had called people from the Roma minority "smelly" in 2013. A French teenager was charged for criticizing Islam as a "religion of hate" in 2020.

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech during the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 20, 2026. (Harun Ozalp/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Many of us were disgusted recently when Macron celebrated Brigitte Bardot's life as someone who "embodied a life of freedom." As I discussed, the French government repeatedly prosecuted Bardot for speaking about her views.

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Macron’s praise for Bardot’s "life of freedom" is reminiscent of........

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