The Free Speech Union is a membership organisation founded in 2020 by Toby Young, who serves as its General Secretary. It describes itself as "a non-partisan, mass membership public interest body" fighting for anyone who gets into trouble for exercising their freedom of speech, though critics see it as a partisan rallying point for "anti-woke" grievance. In March 2025 it announced a legal collaboration with Elon Musk's X, with Young describing it as the first of "many" such collaborations. The FSU has gone to court to prevent disclosure of its donors, but an investigation by Democracy for Sale revealed that funders include the Injustice Foundation — a vehicle linked to Vote Leave figures Matthew Elliott and Jon Moynihan, which has given over £380,000 to the FSU — as well as a US organisation run by an anti-abortion lawyer. The Guardian reported that the US State Department intended to give $5 million to the FSU's international offshoot as part of a package aimed at promoting right-wing causes in the UK and Europe . The Guardian also raised questions about whether the FSU's case-specific fundraisers have consistently raised sums in excess of what the stated legal costs would require. In January 2026, the FSU's website was hacked by trans rights group Bash Back, who published a list of donors; the FSU obtained a High Court injunction banning further publication of the list.

Toby Young

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