What is freedom of speech?
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship or limitation.
Freedom of expression is a close cousin, though it sometimes includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used. In practice, the right to freedom of speech is not absolute in any country and the right is commonly subject to limitations, such as on "hate speech." Even so, the legal protections of the First Amendment in the United States are some of the broadest of any industrialized nation, and remain a critical, and occasionally controversial, component of American civil liberties.
