>but there is still a very strong culture of free speech
In my opinion, that culture has been rapidly dying, chipped away by a very sizable and growing chunk that doesn't value it at all, seeing it only as a legal technicality to be sidestepped.
I'm not nearly as happy to hear that as you might think. California is currently the heart of power of the US tech industry, which means they hold outsized power over the rest of the US and the world. That means illiberal values growing there are going to have similarly outsized effects
