Campus deplatformings hit record high

Campus speaker deplatforming attempts reached a new high in 2026, topping 200 incidents for the first time. Attempts have come from across the political spectrum, but conservative-initiated efforts outnumber liberal ones this year. Notable cases include a scholar withdrawing after reported objections from foreign government officials, a university venue briefly canceling then reinstating a booked event featuring Tim Pool and Jack Posobiec, a failed push to disinvite a New York Times columnist over coverage of alleged wartime abuses, a Charlie Kirk memorial that proceeded despite student opposition, and six separate efforts to block streamer Hasan Piker - five failures and one institutional revocation tied to procedural concerns. These examples underscore both the frequency and variety of tactics used to block speakers.

A rising and more worrisome trend is growing involvement from elected officials and appointees. Whereas political actors rarely appeared in such campaigns from 1998-2022, their participation jumped sharply after 2023 and surged again in 2025, with 2026 on a similar pace; most of these interventions come from the right and disproportionately target public institutions. Success rates have climbed - only about one in five government-linked attempts prevailed in 2023-24, but nearly two in three did over the past two years - prompting concern that intensified federal scrutiny of higher education and political pressure are making campuses more likely to cancel controversial speakers, eroding free expression.