13 Feb 2026 | Africa, Asia and Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Features, France, Kenya, Madagascar, Nepal, United Kingdom
This article first appeared in the Winter 2025 issue of Index on Censorship, Gen Z is revolting: Why the world’s youth will not be silenced, published on 18 December 2025.
Gen Z are in revolt. In Kenya, in Madagascar, in Nepal, young people are exercising their freedom of expression, taking to the streets and demanding change. They are at times being silenced with force, at other times with subtlety.
As a team of predominantly non-Gen Z people, we spoke with young people from across the world to better understand how they see themselves. How free are their voices? Do they have hope for the future? Are we all doomed?
We talked to a young man from France, who described the hate and division he sees online, particularly targeted at men, with far-right politicians using memes and AI-generated videos to spread or soften hateful rhetoric. Marine Le Pen petting cats, for instance.
He believes social collapse is coming. In a country like France, with its strong record of demonstrations, it is shocking to hear him say that protests make no difference. They are dangerous places to be, where police use weapons against those raising their voices. People are fed up, and politicians are out of touch. In his words, “the Boomer generation is fucking us up”. What is most striking is that he doesn’t feel he can say any of this in public. Politics has become too divisive.
He described a landscape where young people are struggling to even pay grocery bills, and politicians aren’t listening. At the same time, he and his peers are trying to find meaning, a reason for being on the planet. Their issues are existential. In the UK too, people struggle to get jobs, to meet rising costs, and to afford a home.
The same is true in Finland, where a woman in her mid-twenties told us about her experiences. She said she is scared for the future.
While her social media algorithm is full of lifestyle influencers and calming content, she has witnessed a growing conservatism among the lower age bracket of Gen Z on TikTok. Her peers are cautious about saying anything that might get them cancelled, while she sees a slew of right-wing views from those in their mid-teens.
Here in the UK, our editorial assistant (and resident Gen Zer) Connor O’Brien has seen “young men being pumped with manosphere content”. He approached a number of Reform UK voters, keen to hear their perspectives, but none of them were willing to talk to Index.
Students from Ukraine, Palestine, Afghanistan and Malaysia joined us for a round table discussion about why Gen Z is in revolt. They talked about the bravery of Gen Z, growing up in the wake of the Arab Spring, and the feeling of having nothing left to lose. That, they said, is how revolutions start. They too agreed – the older generations have failed them, and the world is going to burn. Why wouldn’t they revolt?
They described what makes Gen Z distinct. The huge step change in their access to information, the way they consume media and how they share their opinions. Through the power of the internet, their generation has been shaped by global connection.
They also discussed how it’s impossible to generalise for a whole generation. They’re right, and even the views we heard were only a small sample. The Frenchman does not represent all of France, nor the Finnish woman all of Finland.
A recent report for Demos by Shuab Gamote and Peter Hyman, who interviewed hundreds of British 16-18 year olds, demonstrated just that. For starters, the 15-28 age bracket (as of 2025) is simply too wide. They focused their research on 15-18 year olds as the future change-makers. They also designed five archetypes, which the young people they spoke with felt represented them well. They are the activist (left-wing, cares about climate change, deeply principled), the entrepreneur (believes in meritocracy), the critical realist (apathetic or anti-establishment, questioning of everything), the traditionalist (right-leaning, patriotic) and the connector (disengaged from political discussions and interested in pop culture).
The media and, if we’re honest, those of us outside the Gen Z age bracket, have made some quick assumptions about who is influencing young people today. It must be Andrew Tate. The news tells us this, television dramas tell us this, and we probably tell it to each other. But, according to Gamote and Hyman’s research, “Tate is dead.” Figuratively.
When they mentioned Tate in their sessions, students rolled their eyes. Instead, young people in the UK are being influenced by five key types of social media star: entertainers, adult content creators, news explainers, right-wing thinkers and left-wing voices. Gender is a huge dividing line, shaping young people’s views.
“Young people today are immersed in a constant stream of content,” they said. “Young people are not following one person’s ‘ideology’. They follow and are ‘influenced’ by tens if not hundreds of creators. Their feeds are shaped by algorithms, not loyalty.”
The students at our round table echoed this, describing an ever-spinning carousel of influencers, who hold their attention for a week or so. One spoke about the gentle path of breadcrumbs – first a funny video, and then a bait and switch to far-right ideology, or videos of angry people shouting at hotels in Epping which they are being pushed because they live in Essex. For the women, “trad wives” content had made its way onto their feeds.
All this is about a fight for the future; for the youth protesters, for the young men demanding patriotic values and for the powerful seeking to gain influence on the young. From the Millennial, Gen X and Boomer sidelines, it might look like that future is hopeless. But Gen Z have a binary choice. It’s all or nothing.
24 Oct 2025 | Afghanistan, Americas, Asia and Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Iran, Italy, News, Russia, United Kingdom, United States
Bombarded with news from all angles every day, important stories can easily pass us by. To help you cut through the noise, every Friday Index publishes a weekly news roundup of some of the key stories covering censorship and free expression. This week, we look at the UK’s easing of arrests over speech and the songs Putin doesn’t want you to hear.
Italy: Bomb fails to deter Journalist
Prominent Italian investigative journalist Sigfrido Ranucci, who was the target of a bomb attack this month, has continued to speak out against lawsuits against journalists by members of the Italian government..
On 16 October a bomb exploded outside of the journalist’s home just as he arrived back with his daughter, destroying two cars but resulting in no injuries. Ranucci has been under police protection since 2011 following threats made after his investigations into organised crime groups.
Ranucci’s work has not only drawn the ire of criminal gangs, but also members of President Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government, a number of whom have sued Report, the RAI 3 show hosted by Ranucci as part of a wider attack on press freedom in the country.
Only days after the attempt on his life, Ranucci spoke at a seminar for a prize dedicated to murdered Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. You can watch the conference including Ranucci’s speech here.
Russia: Teen singer rattles Russians
An 18-year-old Russian singer has been arrested following street performances of banned anti-Putin songs last week.
Diana Loginova, who performs under the name Naoko is part of the street band Stoptime, who are known for their performances on the streets of St. Petersburg. She faces a potential charge of discrediting the Russian army, a charge that can lead to a year in prison.
One of the songs performed was the 2023 track Cooperative Swan Lake by exiled rapper Noize MC. The song references the broadcast of Swan Lake on Soviet television during the 1991 coup d’etat, with the ballet becoming a symbol of the Russian state attempting to conceal current events from the public.
The song has been banned across Russia for its anti-Putin sentiment.
Hear one of the songs that Putin doesn’t want you to hear and watch the video of one of Stoptime’s performances here. For non-Russian speakers, the translation is here.
England: Met decides not to investigate “non-crime hate incidents”
The UK police have dropped charges against activists who projected pictures onto Windsor Castle, and against writer Graham Linehan.
Four members of Led by Donkeys, the group responsible for the projections, had been arrested in September after they projected photographs of US President Donald Trump and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein onto the castle during Trump’s state visit.
A spokesperson for the group said: “We’re happy police resources can now be redirected to investigating Prince Andrew.”
Father Ted writer Graham Linehan was arrested on 1 September by armed police at Heathrow airport for posts he had made on social media attacking transgender people The police action came under intense scrutiny,, leading Prime Minister Keir Starmer to state that the police must “focus on the most serious issues”.
The Metropolitan police has since announced that it will stop investigating what it calls “non-crime hate incidents” following the incident.
A spokesman for the Met police said: “We understand the concern around this case. The commissioner has been clear he doesn’t believe officers should be policing toxic culture war debates, with current laws and rules on inciting violence online leaving them in an impossible position.
“As a result, the Met will no longer investigate non-crime hate incidents. We believe this will provide clearer direction for officers, reduce ambiguity and enable them to focus on matters that meet the threshold for criminal investigations.
“These incidents will still be recorded and used as valuable pieces of intelligence to establish potential patterns of behaviour or criminality.
“We will continue to investigate and arrest those who commit hate crimes – allowing us to comply with statutory guidance while focusing our resources on criminality and public protection.”
U.S.A.: United States of AI
AI videos have made the rounds in the US this week, with former Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo putting out an AI campaign advert, and President Donald Trump using AI to mock the No Kings Day protests.
Cuomo, who resigned as Governor of New York during investigations into sexual misconduct in 2021, posted the now deleted AI generated advert to X as part of his campaign to become Mayor of New York. The video depicts various criminals expressing their support for fellow candidate Zohran Mamdani. Critics have denounced the video as racist.
Trump’s contribution to AI videos this week included a video posted to his Truth Social page showing himself wearing a crown, flying a fighter jet marked “King Trump” and dropping what appears to be excrement onto protestors. The mockery clearly takes aim at the ongoing No Kings Day protests happening across the country.
Iran: Lavish wedding exposes official
The wedding of the daughter of a high ranking Iranian official has led to accusations of hypocrisy across Iran.
Ali Shamkhani is an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and a strict enforcer of the country’s headscarf requirements, with the country planning to mobilise 80,000 morality police in Tehran as part of the crackdown.
The leaked video shows the bride dressed in a western-style wedding dress, as well as multiple women attending the event without headscarves.Criticism has also been aimed at the estimated $21,000 luxury venue being used during a wider economic crisis.
Similar displays of wealth from so-called ‘nepo babies’ fueled the flames that led to anti corruption protests and eventually full scale revolts in Nepal.
Afghanistan
Here is a link to another article we thought was interesting this week, a short essay about hypocrisy and the suppression of girl’s education in Afghanistan by Masrora Nabizada.
