The School for Moral Ambition

Co-Founder

De Correspondent

Writer

I'm a historian, author and the co-founder of The School for Moral Ambition. My books Humankind (2020) and Utopia for Realists (2014) were both New York Times Bestsellers and have been translated into more than 40 languages. New book MORAL AMBITION out now!

I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor the opening lecture of a series they invited me to deliver. 

They removed the sentence in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.”

This line was taken out of a lecture they commissioned, reviewed through the full editorial process, and recorded four weeks ago in front of 500 people in the BBC Radio Theatre. 

I was told the decision came from the highest levels within the BBC.

This has happened against my wishes, and I'm deeply troubled by it. Not because people can’t disagree with my words, but because self-censorship driven by fear (Trump is threatening to sue the BBC) should concern all of us.

This isn’t about left or right. It’s about the health of our democratic institutions. For decades the Reith Lectures have been one of the BBC’s most important platforms for open debate and free expression. That’s why this really matters.

In this video, I explain what happened, why it’s important, and why we should remain calm but clear-eyed about the pressures facing our public institutions.

I share this with respect for the many excellent journalists at the BBC. And with the hope that transparency helps strengthen, not weaken, our democratic culture.

Rutger Bregman

Historian and co-founder of The School for Moral Ambition

The day after the BBC decided to censor my first Reith Lecture, I still feel deeply disappointed by it.

In The Guardian, a BBC spokesperson suggested the cut was a routine editorial decision, but also that it was made on legal advice.

Those two explanations simply don’t fit together.

The edit was made at the very last moment, after full editorial approval and four weeks after the live recording in the BBC Radio Theatre. A routine edit doesn’t require days of internal deliberation, high-level discussions, or top-tier legal review.

The truth is simple: the sentence wasn’t removed because it was inaccurate. It was removed because of legal fears. And that is exactly the issue my lecture addresses:  what happens when institutions begin to censor themselves out of fear of those in power.

Here's the audio-recording of the first Reith Lecture + the really interesting and lively Q&A afterwards (but minus that one sentence about Trump's corruption…): https://lnkd.in/eC3X-xPn

And here's the transcript -->

1. A Time of Monsters

Walk into any café today and you’ll see the same scene: 
Heads bowed. Eyes glazed. Fingers flicking endlessly.

We barely register it anymore.
But from a historian’s perspective?

It’s staggering how quickly we accepted this new way of being human.

And it’s about to get worse. 

If the first wave of Big Tech hijacked our attention, the next wave is coming for something deeper: our desires, our relationships, even our capacity for love and empathy.

• AI companions whispering exactly what you want to hear
• Hyper-personalised porn, on-demand and interactive
• Digital intimacy engineered for maximum extraction, not connection

AI is becoming to human connection what junk food became to nourishment. Cheap. Addictive. Empty. Designed for profit, not flourishing.

So the question is: What do we do? 

I think history points to a forgotten answer.

We all know the two great moral revolutions of the 19th century: the fight against slavery and the struggle for women’s rights.

But few remember the third: temperance.

Back then, alcohol wasn’t a casual indulgence; it was a social disaster: 

• Workers’ wages vanished into the bottle.
• Families collapsed.
• Communities were torn apart.
• And Big Alcohol profited from human weakness.

So what happened? Ordinary people — teachers, workers, parents — organized. They launched one of the biggest democratic movements in Western history. They demanded taxes, regulation, and yes: at times, outright bans.

These people understood something that Silicon Valley still pretends not to know:

When an industry profits from human vulnerability, society eventually fights back.

Today, we face a new addiction industry. Not of wine and whiskey, but apps and algorithms. A digital Moloch built to devour attention, warp desire, and monetize loneliness. And AI is about to pour rocket fuel on it.

But here’s the twist Silicon Valley should fear:

A dragon is waking up. Public anger is rising.
The movement to ban phones in schools is only the beginning.

We should also push for dopamine taxes, legal protections against behavioural manipulation, age-verified social media and much more.

History teaches a simple lesson: small groups can spark enormous moral revolutions.

A century ago, temperance activists even pushed a constitutional amendment through U.S. Congress.

Those who don’t want to provoke an equally drastic backlash today should pay attention to the past.

🔹 This is an excerpt from my 4th Reith Lecture. Read the full excerpt in The Observer UK: https://lnkd.in/ezX8ujbH

🔹 The first lecture - 'A Time of Monsters' - goes live tomorrow on BBC Radio 4! The whole series is called: 'A Moral Revolution'.

Open article: Big tech has our attention and now it wants our affection. We must resist | The Observer by observer.co.uk

Big tech has our attention and now it wants our affection. We must resist | The Observer

Big Tobacco nearly pulled off a massive lie in broad daylight. Out of 18,000 'citizen comments' on EU tobacco taxes, thousands were traced back to coordinated lobby messaging. 

Three fellows at The School for Moral Ambition uncovered the pattern, investigated the networks behind it, and took their evidence to POLITICO Europe. 

A real reminder of what happens when a small group of thoughtful, committed people decide to fight back and refuse to be outplayed by an industry built on deception!

I'm so proud of our fellows at Impact Unfiltered. While I was recording this video they already had their next scoop --> it turns out that Big Tobacco didn't just fake these citizen comments, they also committed outright identity theft! Read more here: https://lnkd.in/esbCSQmS

Anyway, we're just getting started!

Didn’t expect this so soon, but WOW. Another huge scoop from our fellows at Impact Unfiltered. They’ve just uncovered a new, shocking chapter in the battle over the EU’s Tobacco Tax Directive.

What they found:

👉 At the recent 'public hearing', only 7 of 30 MEPs showed up. And FOUR of those had just met with tobacco lobbyists, which is ILLEGAL. It's a direct violation of the EU’s own commitment to keep industry away from public-health policymaking.

👉 When those MEPs spoke, they didn’t ask genuine questions. They read out lines lifted almost word-for-word from industry submissions while tobacco lobbyists nodded along… and independent experts were sidelined.

👉 And here's the biggest scoop. We already knew (thanks to Impact Unfiltered!) that the public consultation had been flooded with anonymous pro-industry comments (see the news from 3 weeks ago: https://lnkd.in/eUPrsjBB). Now there’s *confirmed identity theft* (!!!): two Moldovan health academics discovered that their names had been used, without their knowledge, to argue for tax breaks for Big Tobacco.

All of this was reported today by POLITICO Europe

I’m just in awe of Jeltsje, Joachim, and Alexandre. The impact this small army of morally ambitious warriors is making is just extraordinary. 

Big Tobacco must really hate them by now 🥳

Senior Policy Officer at Impact Unfiltered | Tobacco Free Future Fellow at The School of Moral Ambition

The story continues — and it deserves all attention.

Covered today in POLITICO Europe, our follow-up analysis with Impact Unfiltered uncovers another chapter of industry influence in the Tobacco Tax Directive.

At last month’s European Parliament hearing, the discussion was practically hijacked by industry-friendly MEPs. Only 7 of 30 committee members showed up, four of them having multiple recent meetings with tobacco lobbyists (against international rules to protect public health from industry influence⚠️ )

Their questions echoed industry submissions almost word-for-word, while 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝.

The public consultation — already flooded with anonymous pro-industry responses — even included 𝐟𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 in the names of two Moldovan health academics, arguing for industry-friendly tax breaks without their knowledge or consent. Their organisations have formally disavowed these comments.

The stakes are enormous: the Tobacco Tax Directive could help 12 million people quit smoking 12 million and save tens of thousands of lives each year. 

Yet this captured process is letting Big Tobacco shape the rules instead of evidence.

❗ 𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲, 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬.

Read the story below ⬇️ 

With Impact Unfiltered, Alexandre Nedeltchev and Joachim Verheyen🔹, Contribute Foundation, Stichting Nieuwe Waarde

The School for Moral Ambition, Rutger Bregman, ENSP - European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention, Tobacco Control Research Group (TCRG), Silvano Gallus, University of Bath, Smoke Free Partnership Gijs van Wijk  #EUHealth #TobaccoTactics #BigTobacco

Captured process- more tobacco shenanigans in POLITICO

What if you could instantly DOUBLE your contribution to one of the most pressing challenges of our time?

Today, The School for Moral Ambition is launching its U.S. Food System Reform Program.

Many of you already know, our food system is broken: 80% of agricultural land is used for livestock, animal agriculture contributes more greenhouse gases than all transportation combined, and factory farming is the cause of immense amounts of animal suffering.

So, how are we going to fix this? 

With people. Talented, ambitious people. And the interest is there: we already have over 2,000 professionals who want to work on ending factory farming, and over 30 partner organizations ready to host them.

But one thing is still holding us back: funding. So here’s our challenge, and the opportunity:

👉 This week, we’re trying to raise $100,000.
 👉 For every dollar we raise up until that target, a group of generous funders will add another dollar in matching funds.

That means: if you donate now, your donation will be DOUBLED.

If we hit this target, we can launch the first U.S. Food System Reform Fellowship and bring new talent and new resources into a movement that urgently needs both.

If you believe in a fairer and more sustainable food system, I invite you to join me in supporting this important cause. 

Learn more and donate here: moralambition.org/food

taplio

Rutger Bregman's Linkedin Analytics

Rutger Bregman

Performance ScoreRutger Bregman's LinkedIn Performance

What is Rutger talking about?

Rutger Bregman's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

.css-6ytdur{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39, 43, 72, 1) 0%, rgba(33, 47, 183, 1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Rutger Bregman's Linkedin Analytics

Rutger Bregman

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Rutger Bregman's LinkedIn Performance

What is Rutger talking about?

Rutger Bregman's Best Posts .css-1emoo84{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:400;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);}(last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Rutger Bregman's Linkedin Analytics

Performance ScoreRutger Bregman's LinkedIn Performance

Rutger Bregman's Best Posts (last 30 days)