Freedom of speech is a great virtue for a liberal democracy. Without free speech, liberal democracy is not truly a liberal democracy. The liberty to speak or not to speak is so essential to liberal democracy, and without this liberty liberal democracy won't be liberal democracy.
But when we say free speech or liberty to speak, it can't mean being allowed to speak anything and everything. For example, free speech cannot definitely mean giving away vital information to enemy country. In the name of free speech, giving away such sensitive information may invite criminal charges.
In the name of free speech, can we tell lies? No. free speech also cannot mean telling lies anytime anywhere.
What about hate speech? But before that we need to settle what hate speech is? One essential component of hate speech is to provide incorrect or incomplete information to generate hatred for the person or the community. So the intent is essential to determine whether it is hate speech or not as much as the content is important. Taken this away, free speech cannot mean being allowed to make hate speech as hate speech speech misleads others deliberately by providing incorrect information. And hate by definition is not a virtue; anything that leads to hate cannot be celebrated and honoured. So hate speech ought not to be protected by free speech.
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