What is a chilling effect on speech? It's a phenomenon frequently invoked by courts, regulators, and activists; cited in litigation, policy debates, and public discourse; and relied upon as an explanatory shorthand. Yet - until now - it has never been examined with the rigor it demands.
This edited volume is the first work to offer a systematic, interdisciplinary examination of the chilling effect as a core analytical problem. Bringing together contributions from leading scholars and experts in the fields of law, sociology, political science, communications studies and the social sciences, the book directly addresses the conceptual, methodological, and normative dilemmas and paradoxes that have long surrounded the discussion on the silencing of those exercising their freedom of expression.
The chapters cover topics such as free speech, surveillance, artistic and academic freedom, digital governance, and self-censorship. The approach pursued involves close engagement with legal doctrine and sociological theory, as well as empirical research, making it possible to move beyond anecdotal claims and toward analytically grounded inquiry. Particular attention is paid to conceptual ambiguity, causal uncertainty, and the perennial difficulty of identifying and assessing indirect forms of deterrence. Rather than offering a single definition or solution, the book probes a central question: how can chilling effects (often anticipatory, invisible, and contested) be meaningfully distinguished from legitimate regulation or ordinary social constraint? To address that question, issues such as evidentiary standards, measurement, cultural polemics, judicial reasoning, and democratic accountability feature prominently throughout the chapters. In addition to general conceptual frameworks, they explore a wide range of regional and contextual perspectives, including case studies from Africa, Asia, and Europe, and transnational governance settings.
This book will appeal to researchers and scholars in all fields concerned with human rights and free speech and make a decisive contribution to chilling effect scholarship by transforming a widely invoked concept into a rigorous object of analysis.
Chapter "Chilling Effect and Fake News Laws: Lessons from East and Southeast Asia" is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.
Gergely Gosztonyi (PhD) is a Full Professor, a Hungarian lawyer and media researcher. He is teaching various courses on infocommunication law, constitutional law and legal history at BA, MA and PhD level at his home institution, Faculty of Law of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE). His research interests include global regulation of social media, censorship, deepfake, alternative media and the liability of intermediaries. He is a member of the European Communication Research and Education Association and the Community Media Forum Europe. He has been an expert on various occasions for the Council of Europe, the National Media and Infocommunications Authority, and the National Talent Centre. He is editor of several law journals and has published over 200 articles in Hungarian and international law journals.
Gergely Ferenc Lendvai is a legal scholar and researcher specializing in freedom of expression, online platform regulation, media law and science communication. He is currently pursuing dual PhDs at Pázmány Péter Catholic University and Ludovika University of Public Service, focusing on online communication, hate speech, and scientometrics. He has extensive experience in legal research and academia, holding positions as a Research Fellow at the University of Richmond and the University of Milan and a lecturer at multiple universities, including Ludovika University of Public Service and Károli Gáspár University. His work often explores the intersection of digital regulation and legal philosophy, drawing on his expertise in European and international law. He is co-editing several forthcoming books concerning digital dilemmas in the regulation of the online space, and has presented at numerous international conferences on topics like online hate speech, deepfake regulation, and the Digital Services Act.
