Harper's free speech letter has 'moved the needle', says organiser

Thomas Chatterton Williams defends letter as critics say it disregards marginalised views

The organiser of an open letter decrying “a vogue for public shaming and ostracism” has said that companies such as Netflix and the New York Times will have to take into account the views of its signatories, after a counter letter accused them of failing to recognise those “silenced for generations”.

A debate about free speech, privilege and the role of social media in public discourse continued over the weekend, as the writer Thomas Chatterton Williams, who signed the letter along with more than 150 prominent authors, thinkers and journalists including JK Rowling, Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood, argued that it had “moved the needle”.

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