Episode 264: Jon Penney on Chilling Effects in the Digital Age
From Law Bytes by Michael Geist
April 13, 2026 · 42 min
About this episode
Jon Penney discusses his book on chilling effects and its implications for digital public policies.
“Chilling effects” is a term people hear all the time: in court rulings, in debates over content moderation, in dealing with online harms, or in news coverage of surveillance and legal reforms. The focus is typically on how legal rules may make speaking out more challenging, risky, or even dangerous. But what if our understanding of chilling effects actually understates the issue? Jon Penney is a law professor at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto and the author of a new book from Cambridge University Press titled Chilling Effects: Repression, Conformity, and Power in the Digital Age. The book forces us to rethink chilling effects with significant implications for a wide range of digital public policies. Jon joins the Law Bytes podcast to discuss the book and what his findings mean for future legal and regulatory reforms.
People in this episode
Host: Michael Geist
Guest: Jon Penney
Topics covered
- chilling effects
- digital age
- content moderation
- online harms
- legal reforms
- digital public policies
Keywords
- chilling effects
- digital age
- legal reforms
- content moderation
- online harms
- surveillance
- public policies
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Osgoode Hall Law School, Cambridge University Press
More episodes of Law Bytes
- Episode 271: Taking Stock of a Wild Week in Canadian Digital Policy With the Online Streaming Reversal, AI Strategy Release, and Lawful Access Review · June 8, 2026 · 19 min
- Episode 270: Roundtable on the Bill C-22 Risks for Canadian Tech Companies Featuring VPN Services Tailscale and Windscribe · June 1, 2026 · 29 min
- Episode 269: Inside the Bill C-22 Committee Hearing for the Case Against Government’s Lawful Access Plans · May 25, 2026 · 34 min
- Episode 268: Sara Grimes on the Moral Panic Behind Banning Kids from Social Media and AI Chatbots · May 11, 2026 · 48 min
- Episode 267: Peter Nowak on Rogers, the Shaw Merger Aftermath, and the Limits of Canadian Telecom Policy · May 4, 2026 · 36 min
- Episode 266: Justin Safayeni on the Ontario Government's Overnight Evisceration of Access to Information · April 27, 2026 · 43 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Law Bytes podcast page.