Story perspectives

Most Favor Speech Limits Protecting Minorities, Study Shows

5/27/2026

Summary

Abramitzky Finds Support

Stanford economist Ran Abramitzky and co-authors published a Science Advances study showing people often support speech limits protecting marginalized groups, with most undergraduates saying protected speech should shield minorities unless remarks are extremely severe.
Strong ideological commitments weakened support for restrictions, shifting judgments among participants with firm political views.
A follow-up adult study reproduced the patterns, finding perceived harm and target identity predict support, and urged tracking attitudes over time.

Summary

Professors Spark Punishment

Support for punitive action rose 24 percentage points when a professor said a nation is “better without” a group and 45 percentage points when a student called the group “the root of all evil.”
Hate-speech labels rose from 11 % for the loyalty comment to 90 % for the “root of all evil” remark.
Two-thirds of undergraduates favored identity-based speech protections, with the remaining third preferring universalist rules to avoid suppressing unpopular views.

1 of 2

Abramitzky Finds Support

Stanford economist Ran Abramitzky and co-authors published a Science Advances study showing people often support speech limits protecting marginalized groups, with most undergraduates saying protected speech should shield minorities unless remarks are extremely severe.
Strong ideological commitments weakened support for restrictions, shifting judgments among participants with firm political views.
A follow-up adult study reproduced the patterns, finding perceived harm and target identity predict support, and urged tracking attitudes over time.

1 / 2