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Essay checker: free online paper corrector

Your best chance for an A+ essay. Try our free essay checker below.

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Why should you use a free essay checker?

The simple answer? Good grammar is necessary, but it's not easy. You've already done countless hours of research to write the essay. You don't want to spend countless hours correcting it too.

You'll get a better grade

Good grammar, or its absence, can determine if you get a good grade or a failing one. Impress your lecturer not just with how grammatically sound your writing is but how clear it is and how it flows.

You'll save time

Essay writing can be a long and tedious process. ProWritingAid's essay checker saves you the hassle by acting as the first line of defense against pesky grammar issues.

You'll become a better writer

Essay writing is a particular skill and one that becomes better with practice. Every time you run your essay through ProWritingAid's essay corrector, you get to see what your common mistakes are and how to fix them.

Good Writing = Good Grades

It's already hard to know what to write in an essay. Don't let grammar mistakes hinder your writing and prevent you from getting a good grade. ProWritingAid's essay checker will help you write your best essay yet. Since the checker is powered by AI, using it means that grammar errors don't stand a chance. Give your professors something to look forward to reading with clear, concise, and professional writing.

How does ProWritingAid's essay checker work?

Your goal in essay writing is to convey your message as best as possible. ProWritingAid's essay checker is the first step toward doing this.

Get rid of spelling errors

ProWritingAid's essay checker will show you what it thinks are spelling errors and present you with possible corrections. If a word is flagged and it's actually spelled correctly, you can always choose to ignore the suggestion.

Fix grammar errors

Professors aren't fans of poor grammar because it interrupts your message and makes your essay hard to understand. ProWritingAid will run a grammar check on your paper to ensure that your message is precise and is being communicated the way you intended.

Get rid of punctuation mistakes

A missing period or comma here and there may not seem that serious, but you'll lose marks for punctuation errors. Run ProWritingAid's essay checker to use the correct punctuation marks every time and elevate your writing.

Improve readability

Make sure that in the grand scheme, your language is not too complicated. The essay checker's built-in Readability report will show if your essay is easy or hard to read. It specifically zones in on paragraphs that might be difficult to read so you can review them.

What else can the essay checker do?

The editing tool analyzes your text and highlights a variety of key writing issues, such as overused words, incohesive sentence structures, punctuation issues, repeated phrases, and inconsistencies.

You don't need to drown your essay in words just to meet the word count. ProWritingAid's essay checker will help to make your words more effective. You'll get to construct your arguments and make sure that every word you use builds toward a meaningful conclusion.

Transition words help organize your ideas by showing the relationship between them. The essay checker has a built-in Transition report that highlights and shows the percentage of transitions used in your essay. Use the results to add transitions where necessary.

An engaging essay has sentences of varying lengths. Don't bore your professor with long, rambling sentences. The essay checker will show you where you need to break long sentences into shorter sentences or add more sentence length variation.

Generally, in scholarly writing, with its emphasis on precision and clarity, the active voice is preferred. However, the passive voice is acceptable in some instances. When you run your essay through ProWritingAid's essay checker, you get feedback on whether you're using the passive or active voice to convey your idea.

There are specific academic power verbs, like appraise , investigate , debunk , support , etc., that can add more impact to your argument by giving a more positive and confident tone. The essay checker will check your writing for power verbs and notify you if you have less than three throughout your essay.

It's easy to get attached to certain phrases and use them as crutches in your essays, but this gives the impression of boring and repetitive writing. The essay checker will highlight your repeats and suggest contextually relevant alternatives.

Gain access to in-house blog reports on citations, how to write a thesis statement, how to write a conclusion, and more. Venture into a world of resources specific to your academic needs.

What kinds of papers does ProWritingAid correct?

No matter what you're writing, ProWritingAid will adapt and show you where your edits are needed most.

• Argumentative
• Descriptive
• Textual analysis
• Lab reports
• Case studies
• Literature reviews
• Presentations
• Dissertations
• Research papers

Professors and students love using ProWritingAid

If you're an English teacher, you need to take a look at this tool - it reinforces what you're teaching, highlights strengths and weaknesses, and makes it easier to personalize instruction.

Jennifer Gonzales

Only reason I managed to get an A in all my freshman composition classes.

Chris Layton

Great tool for academic work. Easy to use, and the reports and summary evaluation of your documents in several categories is very useful. So much more than spelling and grammar!

Debra Callender

Questions & Answers

1. how do i use the essay checker online tool.

You can either copy and paste your essay in the essay checker field or upload your essay from your computer. Your suggestions will show once you enter text. You'll see a number of possible grammar and spelling issues. Sign up for free to get unlimited suggestions to improve your writing style, grammar, and sentence structure. Avoid unintentional plagiarism with a premium account.

2. Does the essay checker work with British English and American English?

The essay checker works with both British English and American English. Just choose the one you would like to use and your corrections will reflect this.

3. Is using an essay checker cheating?

No. The essay checker won't ever write the essay for you. It will point out possible edits and advise you on changes you need to make. You have full autonomy and get to decide which changes to accept.

4. Will the essay checker autocorrect my work?

The essay writing power remains in your hands. You choose which suggestions you want to accept, and you can ignore those that you don't think apply.

5. Is there a student discount?

Students who have an eligible student email address can get 20% off ProWritingAid Premium. You can apply for a student discount through Student App Centre .

6. Does ProWritingAid have a plagiarism checker?

Yes. ProWritingAid's plagiarism checker will check your work against over a billion webpages, published works, and academic papers, so you can be sure of its originality. Find out more about pricing for plagiarism checks here .

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Why this is the best free essay checker.

Tested most accurate

In the test for the best grammar checker , Scribbr found 19 out of 20 errors.

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You don’t have to register or sign up. Insert your text and get started right away.

Long texts, short texts it doesn’t matter – there’s no character or word limit.

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Nobody's perfect all the time—and now, you don’t have to be!

There are times when you just want to write without worrying about every grammar or spelling convention. The online proofreader immediately finds all of your errors. This allows you to concentrate on the bigger picture. You’ll be 100% confident that your writing won’t affect your grade.

Correcting your grammar

The Scribbr essay checker fixes grammar mistakes like:

• Sentence fragments & run-on sentences
• Subject-verb agreement errors
• Issues with parallelism

Spelling & Typos

Basic spell-checks often miss academic terms in writing and mark them as errors. Scribbr has a large dictionary of recognized (academic) words, so you can feel confident every word is 100% correct.

Punctuation errors

The essay checker takes away all your punctuation worries. Avoid common mistakes with:

• Dashes and hyphens
• Apostrophes
• Parentheses
• Question marks
• Colons and semicolons
• Quotation marks

Avoid word choice errors

Should you use   “affect” or “effect” ? Is it   “then” or “than” ? Did you mean   “there,” “their,” or “they’re” ?

Never worry about embarrassing word choice errors again. Our grammar checker will spot and correct any errors with   commonly confused words .

Improve your text with one click

The Scribbr Grammar Checker allows you to accept all suggestions in your document with a single click.

Give it a try!

Correct your entire document in 5 minutes

Would you like to upload your entire essay and check it for 100+ academic language issues? Then Scribbr’s AI-powered proofreading is perfect for you.

With the AI Proofreader, you can correct your text in no time:

• Upload document
• Wait briefly while all errors are corrected directly in your document
• Correct errors with one click

Proofread my document

A Grammar Checker for all English variants

There are important differences between the versions of English used in different parts of the world, including UK and US English . Our essay checker supports a variety of major English dialects:

• Canadian English
• Australian English

Why users love our Essay Checker

Save time and upload your entire essay to fix it in minutes

Scribbr & academic integrity.

Scribbr is committed to protecting academic integrity. Our plagiarism checker , AI Detector , Citation Generator , proofreading services , paraphrasing tool , grammar checker , summarizer , and free Knowledge Base content are designed to help students produce quality academic papers.

We make every effort to prevent our software from being used for fraudulent or manipulative purposes.

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Frequently asked questions

Our Essay Checker can detect most grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes. That said, we can’t guarantee 100% accuracy. 

Absolutely! The Essay Checker is particularly useful for non-native English speakers, as it can detect mistakes that may have gone unnoticed.

The exact time depends on the length of your document, but, in most cases it doesn’t take more than a minute.

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"There is no way my essays would have been the same caliber without this platform." - Nick E.

Our essay review platform offers you immediate and free access to the editing tools you need to create an essay that:

• Makes the reader want to know more about you
• Demonstrates how you’ll contribute to campus life
• Hypes your creativity, originality, and all-round awesomeness

Scroll down to get started with the free version.

What types of essays are OK to submit?

We’ll happily review any essay used in the college application process. Examples include:

• The 650-word personal statement for the Common Application
• The 550-word main essay for the Coalition Application
• Any of the 350-word University of California Personal Insight Questions (UC PIQs)
• Any additional or supplemental essays that are a part of the application for specific universities (ex: MIT / Brown / Stanford / UVA / USC)
• Essays for the Apply Texas, New York, or other state school systems
• Essays for the UCAS application in the UK

If your submission contains multiple essays, we’ll review the first one listed.

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If you're looking for even more personalized essay support, we offer several one-on-one essay counseling services via Zoom. If that sounds like a good fit, you can get started with a free chat with a member of our team.

A better approach to college essay review

Get detailed college essay feedback from an admissions expert in as little as 2 hours.

From grammar and syntax to the strength of the topic, expert reviewers on CollegeVine are thorough in helping your voice stand out and write essays that actually resonate with admissions officers.

Find the perfect reviewer for you

CollegeVine is home to the largest marketplace of admissions experts. Choose from advisors with diverse backgrounds, areas of expertise, services, price points, and return times.

What families are saying

Olga ivleva, samara watkins, we make it easy to get a fast, professional essay review.

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Other essay resources on CollegeVine

Essay prompts & guides

At CollegeVine, our goal is to make the college application process a little less stressful, so we’ve compiled the latest essay prompts for the top 100 schools in one easy, searchable database.

Review a peer essay

Build confidence and improve your own writing by reviewing peer essays. Get into the mindset of a reader trying to understand the writer, just like an admissions officer.

Differentiating yourself is more important than ever

With more schools going test-optional, college essays can help you stand out from the rest, and they can often make the difference between rejection and acceptance.

Essays are 35% of your application

Grades alone won’t get you accepted to your dream school. The college essay is an extremely important piece of your college application. Essays help you stand out from the rest.

Show your personality

Admissions officers want to better understand who you are through your essays. Showcasing your unique view of the world and the experiences that have led you to where you are is pivotal.

Become memorable to admissions

Admissions officers only spend a few minutes on each application. Ensure your essay will be memorable by getting honest feedback from people who don’t already know your story well.

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Essay Coaching and Review

Designed for rising and current 12th graders.

Write Your Way In With Essays That Leave An Impression.

Whether you have a good start on your essay and you want to take it to the next level, or you need some coaching to craft the perfect piece from the ground up, we’ve got you covered!

Of our students are admitted into at least one of their top choice schools.

Full Essay Coaching

The best option if you want to craft the ultimate essay from the ground up or need to discuss your current draft’s narrative. Your admissions consultants will take you from topic planning to final draft.

Price Option Pulldown

Essay Review

A great option if you already know what you want to write about and you’d mostly benefit from an expert admissions consultant helping you perfect your style, tone, and message.

You’re a unique person, with unique experiences and ambitions, but how do you best show this in a response to an essay prompt? With Full Essay Coaching, your expert Admissions Consultant will guide you from beginning to end and make sure your strongest attributes come through clearly and concisely.

This is a great option for the Common App personal statement, reach schools, and other high-stakes situations.

Highlights:

How it works:

We get to know you in detail and match you with the perfect consultant

We brainstorm and strategize your essay topic during live, face-to-face calls

We work with you to edit and improve your draft – as many times as it takes

We help you finish with a perfect stand-out essay

You have a good start on your essay, but you want an expert to help you perfect it? PrepScholar Admissions Consultants are top-notch writers who know exactly what colleges are looking for. No matter your background or school choices, they’ll help you wordsmith and perfect your essay so you can present your thoughts in the best possible manner.

This is an affordable option for lower-stakes situations and almost-ready essays that require some polishing before they’re submissions-ready.

Upload your rough essay draft

Receive a complete evaluation and revision – Up to 5 rounds

Finish with a completely polished essay, see for yourself.

Curious to see the process in action? See two samples of our essay review and revision process for real essays. SAMPLE ONE | SAMPLE TWO

We Hire Only The Best

Leverage experienced admissions consultants.

At PrepScholar, you have access to the nation’s best storytellers, profile-builders, and application crafters. By working one-on-one with one of our expert Admissions Consultants, students build their profiles and develop their unique story resulting in a standout application.  

The Perfect Consultant, Hand-Picked For You

We personally and thoughtfully recommend the best consultant based on your profile.

We start our work by getting to know you in depth. With the help of our Student Profile Questionnaire, we ask relevant questions about your academic profile, challenges, and admissions goals. To gain a deeper understanding, we also ask thought-provoking questions to get your insights about your formative years, personal interests, hopes, and dreams.

Your questionnaire is personally reviewed by our Head of Admissions, a Harvard and Yale graduate with 10+ years of counseling experience. They have worked closely with all the consultants on our team and understand their areas of specialization and track record. Based on your answers, our Head of Admissions matches you with the best consultant to help you reach your goals.

Our matching process is carefully designed and consistently leads to successful consultant and student matches; as a result, reassignment is virtually never necessary. However, if the need for a reassignment arises, we are happy to accommodate such a request.

Chantine A.

Shahrukh M.

Dominique R.

Pricing tiers.

The Full Essay Coaching and Essay Review services are priced by number of essays.

To choose the right tier, identify the number of essays you would like to work on and select the corresponding option. We recommend fitting multiple essays into one package to save!

*We can also help you with the Common App activities list. All you need to do is count it as an essay.

(or a total of up to 650 words)

$595 full coaching

$195 review only

(or a total of up to 1000 words)

$995 full coaching

$295 review only

(or a total of up to 1500 words)

$1375 full coaching

$435 review only

(or a total of up to 2000 words)

$1735 full coaching

$565 review only

(or a total of up to 2500 words)

$2075 full coaching

$685 review only

(or a total of up to 3000 words)

$2395 full coaching

$795 review only

(or a total of up to 3500 words)

$2705 full coaching

$900 review only

(or a total of up to 4000 words)

$3005 full coaching

$1000 review only

(or a total of up to 4500 words)

$3299 full coaching

$1098 review only

(or a total of up to 5000 words)

$3589 full coaching

$1194 review only

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The flexibility and availability offered to me by my selected tutor as well as her willingness to work with me until we perfected the things needed for my college journey. I would Highly recommend prepscholar to anyone looking for help or improvement in high school.

I really liked the personalized support for my essays and how my consultant took the time to understand me as a person to know how to best reflect myself in my essay. She was also very understanding when I needed more time to work on the draft before another round of revisions

Many of the people that reviewed my essay told me the same thing: show don’t tell. However, they never explained what they meant or how to accomplish that. Lily was really nice and helpful in demonstrating what I needed to change instead of just saying it needed improvement. She was also really nice!

Through the consulting sessions, Laura was able to hone in on Mike’s true values, and the best positioning to colleges.  She helped pick the best activities and way to word the activities on the applications.

After many sessions, the application and essay writing became more natural for Mike. I’m glad to say that his voice fully shines through the essays. His consultant just helped him cut out unneeded information, and help hit the word limit and make the most important points. Shewas an expert at knowing how to position clubs and activities as well.

My consultant did an excellent job helping me tell my story. Over our first week, he provided very helpful feedback on my topic ideas and quickly identified a concept that ended up leading to a well-formed essay. He was also very helpful and encouraging throughout the process, and he provided accurate and specific feedback that helped me create an essay that felt very true to myself. Paradoxically, the essay we created together felt much more genuine than any of the attempts I had made at drafting an essay on my own beforehand!

Prepscholar’s personalized approach to the admissions process is invaluable. Eric’s “show, don’t tell” philosophy is practical and proven. Allen and the Prepscholar team embody this essential value with their own degrees and educational accolades. I trust them with my collegiate future. I would suggest that anyone needing guidance through the admissions process do the same.

From Our Blog:

177 College Essay Examples for 11 Schools + Expert Analysis

How to Write a Perfect “Why This College” Essay

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Crimson’s Essay Review Service

Our experts are top college essay specialists who have supported hundreds of students in constructing meaningful essays that stand out about the competition. Our experts provide a highly comprehensive review with in depth suggestions — while assuring the student's work is their own and that their personal voice resonates to admissions officers who review essays in minutes. Our experts review:

The Common App Personal Statement

This critical essay is a major determining factor in top college admissions. The 650 word (max) essay can be extremely hard to master without the nuanced guidance of experts who have read thousands of essays and understand the difference between one that stands out and one that does not.

University of California Application Essay

If you’re planning to apply to schools in the University of California system, you’ll have to complete their Personal Insight Questions, choosing 4 out of the 8 questions to answer and writing up to 350 words for each prompt you choose. Each prompt requires a specialized approach, which our expert reviewers will help you identify and achieve.

Supplemental College Essays

College-specific supplemental essays are vital in convincing admissions officers that you have researched what their institution offers and why you will be a great fit for their institution. Detail is incredibly important, as is knowing exactly how to construct an essay that will resonate with that particular school.

Scholarship Essays

Many merit scholarships require one or more essays asking why you have applied for this scholarship, how your life experience relates to your application, and what you will contribute to campus if successful. Our experts understand what each application requires and how to maximize your chances of success via creative expression.

UCAS Personal Statement

For students applying to top UK universities such as the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge, our UK experts understand the nuance of academically and experience driven essays that convince admissions officers that you are dedicated to their university and the qualified to undertake the course you are applying to.

Individual essay review from $70 USD

24/7 Tutoring: West Ada Students now have access to new free online learning resources

I'm your Idaho News 6 reporter for the South Boise and Kuna neighborhoods.

SOUTH BOISE, Idaho — Students in the West Ada School District now have access to free 24/7 online tutoring. Varsity Tutors offers chat-based tutoring, essay review college and career guidance, and enrichment classes at no cost to students or the district.

• Varsity Tutors will be available to students for the next six years.
• Switching to the new service will save West Ada Schools $1.4 Million over the next two years.
• You can find more information about Varsity Tutors and how your student can utilize the new resource here.

( Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)

"Students who are engaged in the learning process are gonna have questions about the learning," says Marcus Myers, the Chief Academic Officer for West Ada Schools.

He tells me students often need some extra help outside of school hours while they're learning new things, that's why the district is expanding access to free online tutoring.

"It's important that outside of our classrooms and outside the scope of our school day, that we continue to provide those supports and resources to ensure that all students are successful, regardless of their opportunity to provide tutoring at home at their family's own cost, we're gonna be able to provide that for them," says Myers.

Varsity Tutors, the new free tutoring resource, offers online chat-based tutoring 24 hours a day in English or Spanish, essay drop-off review where students can get feedback on how to improve in 48 hours, enrichment classes, and college and career guidance.

"All students in West Ada have access to this resource. We are rolling out specifically the training and the understanding of how to use the tool starting with middle school and high school students and then will start with our elementary students third and fifth grade," says Myers.

"High dosage, tutoring has stood above everything as it relates to driving learning outcomes and delivering a sustained impact on test scores," says Anthony Salcito, the Chief Institution Officer for Varsity Tutors.

He tells me their direct approach helps students retain information and hone their skills in areas like writing.

"We've established these offerings at no cost for multiple school years so districts can plan for it. Parents can understand what the platform looks like so they're aware of the resources they are available and then hopefully students get comfortable using these tools over time," says Salcito.

District leaders tell me switching to the new service will save West Ada $1.4 million over the next two years.

"Providing an opportunity for students to get support 24/7 outside of the classroom while they're at home at any point of the day in order to a help them achieve is exactly our goal," added Myers.

More News in Southwest Ada County

We cover stories making an impact in Southwest Ada County. This is your home to stay on top of what is changing in Southwest Ada County and why it matters to you and your family. We want to hear from you! Click here and tell us what we should be covering in your neighborhood.

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College essays matter. Here's how to write one that stands out | College Connection

Students facing the college application process typically dread one component: the Common App essay.

Students are presented with six essay prompts, as well as a seventh option, which is “topic of your choice.” Students therefore have limitless possibilities for this essay which will be carefully reviewed by each college to which the student applies.

The goal of college admissions officers is to learn about the student who is applying: personal qualities, struggles, ambitions, priorities. On other parts of the application a student’s “data” is detailed. So, this is not the place to write about one’s SAT scores, GPA, or intended major, or to enumerate one’s activities. It is the place to write about an event, situation, or life circumstance that has influenced the student’s attitudes, goals, and perceptions of life.

The options are limitless. Students can write about life occurrences that impacted them: an illness, a learning disability, a relocation. They can use a sport, club, organization, or volunteer group as the overarching framework within which they learned important life lessons.

More: The biggest key to college acceptance | College Connection

One student’s essay, which went viral after its author was accepted to a multitude of Ivy League schools, focused on lessons she learned from visits to Costco over the years. In short, students can write about anything that has impacted them – hopefully in a positive way.

Then, students face supplemental essays. Many colleges, including almost all the most competitive ones, require an essay that is specific to the school. Typically, the question is along the lines of, “Why do you want to attend this institution?” or “Why did you choose your particular major and how will our school prepare you to meet your future goals?”

More: These are the latest trends in college admissions | College Connection

Colleges are aware that students typically apply to 8 to 12 different schools, and they are trying to discern “demonstrated interest,” or, in other words, the likelihood of a student enrolling if accepted. So, students should utilize each supplemental essay as an opportunity to demonstrate their interest in the particular college, and should specifically state the courses, programs, study abroad options, internships, and any other characteristics that make the institution a perfect match for their college ambitions.

By showing enthusiasm for each school and sharing their attributes through the Common App and supplemental essays, students will greatly enhance their prospects of experiencing a successful college application process.

Susan Alaimo is the founder & director of Collegebound Review, offering PSAT/SAT ® preparation & private college advising by Ivy League educated instructors. Visit CollegeboundReview.com or call 908-369-5362 .

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: College essays matter. Here's how to write one that stands out

To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories .

As a Teenager in Europe, I Went to Nudist Beaches All the Time. 30 Years Later, Would the Experience Be the Same?

In July 2017, I wrote an article about toplessness for Vogue Italia. The director, actor, and political activist Lina Esco had emerged from the world of show business to question public nudity laws in the United States with 2014’s Free the Nipple . Her film took on a life of its own and, thanks to the endorsement from the likes of Miley Cyrus, Cara Delevingne, and Willow Smith, eventually developed into a whole political movement, particularly on social media where the hashtag #FreeTheNipple spread at lightning speed. The same year as that piece, actor Alyssa Milano tweeted “me too” and encouraged others who had been sexually assaulted to do the same, building on the movement activist Tarana Burke had created more than a decade earlier. The rest is history.

In that Vogue article, I chatted with designer Alessandro Michele about a shared memory of our favorite topless beaches of our youth. Anywhere in Italy where water appeared—be it the hard-partying Riviera Romagnola, the traditionally chic Amalfi coast and Sorrento peninsula, the vertiginous cliffs and inlets of Italy’s continuation of the French Côte d’Azur or the towering volcanic rocks of Sicily’s mythological Riviera dei Ciclopi—one was bound to find bodies of all shapes and forms, naturally topless.

In the ’90s, growing up in Italy, naked breasts were everywhere and nobody thought anything about it. “When we look at our childhood photos we recognize those imperfect breasts and those bodies, each with their own story. I think of the ‘un-beauty’ of that time and feel it is actually the ultimate beauty,” Michele told me.

Indeed, I felt the same way. My relationship with toplessness was part of a very democratic cultural status quo. If every woman on the beaches of the Mediterranean—from the sexy girls tanning on the shoreline to the grandmothers eating spaghetti al pomodoro out of Tupperware containers under sun umbrellas—bore equally naked body parts, then somehow we were all on the same team. No hierarchies were established. In general, there was very little naked breast censorship. Free nipples appeared on magazine covers at newsstands, whether tabloids or art and fashion magazines. Breasts were so naturally part of the national conversation and aesthetic that Ilona Staller (also known as Cicciolina) and Moana Pozzi, two porn stars, cofounded a political party called the Love Party. I have a clear memory of my neighbor hanging their party’s banner out his window, featuring a topless Cicciolina winking.

A lot has changed since those days, but also since that initial 2017 piece. There’s been a feminist revolution, a transformation of women’s fashion and gender politics, the absurd overturning of Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction in New York, the intensely disturbing overturning of Roe v Wade and the current political battle over reproductive rights radiating from America and far beyond. One way or another, the female body is very much the site of political battles as much as it is of style and fashion tastes. And maybe for this reason naked breasts seem to populate runways and street style a lot more than they do beaches—it’s likely that being naked at a dinner party leaves more of a permanent mark than being naked on a glamorous shore. Naked “dressing” seems to be much more popular than naked “being.” It’s no coincidence that this year Saint Laurent, Chloé, Ferragamo, Tom Ford, Gucci, Ludovic de Saint Sernin, and Valentino all paid homage to sheer dressing in their collections, with lacy dresses, see-through tops, sheer silk hosiery fabric, and close-fitting silk dresses. The majority of Anthony Vaccarello’s fall 2024 collection was mostly transparent. And even off the runway, guests at the Saint Laurent show matched the mood. Olivia Wilde appeared in a stunning see-through dark bodysuit, Georgia May Jagger wore a sheer black halter top, Ebony Riley wore a breathtaking V-neck, and Elsa Hosk went for translucent polka dots.

In some strange way, it feels as if the trends of the ’90s have swapped seats with those of today. When, in 1993, a 19-year-old Kate Moss wore her (now iconic) transparent, bronze-hued Liza Bruce lamé slip dress to Elite Model Agency’s Look of the Year Awards in London, I remember seeing her picture everywhere and feeling in awe of her daring and grace. I loved her simple sexy style, with her otherworldly smile, the hair tied back in a bun. That very slip has remained in the collective unconscious for decades, populating thousands of internet pages, but in remembering that night Moss admitted that the nude look was totally unintentional: “I had no idea why everyone was so excited—in the darkness of Corinne [Day’s] Soho flat, the dress was not see-through!” That’s to say that nude dressing was usually mostly casual and not intellectualized in the context of a larger movement.

But today nudity feels loaded in different ways. In April, actor and author Julia Fox appeared in Los Angeles in a flesh-colored bra that featured hairy hyper-realist prints of breasts and nipples, and matching panties with a print of a sewn-up vagina and the words “closed” on it, as a form of feminist performance art. Breasts , an exhibition curated by Carolina Pasti, recently opened as part of the 60th Venice Biennale at Palazzo Franchetti and showcases works that span from painting and sculpture to photography and film, reflecting on themes of motherhood, empowerment, sexuality, body image, and illness. The show features work by Cindy Sherman, Robert Mapplethorpe, Louise Bourgeois, and an incredible painting by Bernardino Del Signoraccio of Madonna dell’Umiltà, circa 1460-1540. “It was fundamental for me to include a Madonna Lactans from a historical perspective. In this intimate representation, the Virgin reveals one breast while nurturing the child, the organic gesture emphasizing the profound bond between mother and child,” Pasti said when we spoke.

Through her portrayal of breasts, she delves into the delicate balance of strength and vulnerability within the female form. I spoke to Pasti about my recent musings on naked breasts, which she shared in a deep way. I asked her whether she too noticed a disparity between nudity on beaches as opposed to the one on streets and runways, and she agreed. Her main concern today is around censorship. To Pasti, social media is still far too rigid around breast exposure and she plans to discuss this issue through a podcast that she will be launching in September, together with other topics such as motherhood, breastfeeding, sexuality, and breast cancer awareness.

With summer at the door, it was my turn to see just how much of the new reread on transparency would apply to beach life. In the last few years, I noticed those beaches Michele and I reminisced about have grown more conservative and, despite being the daughter of unrepentant nudists and having a long track record of militant topless bathing, I myself have felt a bit more shy lately. Perhaps a woman in her 40s with two children is simply less prone to taking her top off, but my memories of youth are populated by visions of bare-chested mothers surveilling the coasts and shouting after their kids in the water. So when did we stop? And why? When did Michele’s era of “un-beauty” end?

In order to get back in touch with my own naked breasts I decided to revisit the nudist beaches of my youth to see what had changed. On a warm day in May, I researched some local topless beaches around Rome and asked a friend to come with me. Two moms, plus our four children, two girls and two boys of the same ages. “Let’s make an experiment of this and see what happens,” I proposed.

The kids all yawned, but my friend was up for it. These days to go topless, especially on urban beaches, you must visit properties that have an unspoken nudist tradition. One of these in Rome is the natural reserve beach at Capocotta, south of Ostia, but I felt a bit unsure revisiting those sands. In my memory, the Roman nudist beaches often equated to encounters with promiscuous strangers behind the dunes. I didn’t want to expose the kids, so, being that I am now a wise adult, I went ahead and picked a compromise. I found a nude-friendly beach on the banks of the Farfa River, in the rolling Sabina hills.

We piled into my friend’s car and drove out. The kids were all whining about the experiment. “We don’t want to see naked mums!” they complained. “Can’t you just lie and say you went to a nudist beach?”

We parked the car and walked across the medieval fairy-tale woods until we reached the path that ran along the river. All around us were huge trees and gigantic leaves. It had rained a lot recently and the vegetation had grown incredibly. We walked past the remains of a Roman road. The colors all around were bright green, the sky almost fluorescent blue. The kids got sidetracked by the presence of frogs. According to the indications, the beach was about a mile up the river. Halfway down the path, we bumped into a couple of young guys in fanny packs. I scanned them for signs of quintessential nudist attitude, but realized I actually had no idea what that was. I asked if we were headed in the right direction to go to “the beach”. They nodded and gave us a sly smile, which I immediately interpreted as a judgment about us as mothers, and more generally about our age, but I was ready to vindicate bare breasts against ageism.

We reached a small pebbled beach, secluded and bordered by a huge trunk that separated it from the path. A group of girls was there, sharing headphones and listening to music. To my dismay they were all wearing the tops and bottoms of their bikinis. One of them was in a full-piece bathing suit and shorts. “See, they are all wearing bathing suits. Please don’t be the weird mums who don’t.”

At this point, it was a matter of principle. My friend and I decided to take our bathing suits off completely, if only for a moment, and jumped into the river. The boys stayed on the beach with full clothes and shoes on, horrified. The girls went in behind us with their bathing suits. “Are you happy now? my son asked. “Did you prove your point?”

I didn’t really know what my point actually was. I think a part of me wanted to feel entitled to those long-gone decades of naturalism. Whether this was an instinct, or as Pasti said, “an act that was simply tied to the individual freedom of each woman”, it was hard to tell. At this point in history, the two things didn’t seem to cancel each other out—in fact, the opposite. Taking off a bathing suit, at least for my generation who never had to fight for it, had unexpectedly turned into a radical move and maybe I wanted to be part of the new discourse. Also, the chances of me going out in a fully sheer top were slim these days, but on the beach it was different. I would always fight for an authentic topless experience.

After our picnic on the river, we left determined to make our way—and without children—to the beaches of Capocotta. In truth, no part of me actually felt very subversive doing something I had been doing my whole life, but it still felt good. Once a free breast, always a free breast.

This article was originally published on British Vogue .

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Learn more about our book The Best 390 Colleges: 2025 Edition and our college rankings here .  PLEASE NOTE: The Princeton Review does not rank schools overall 1-390. This list appears in alphabetical order. Schools marked "featured" have paid for that designation but not for their inclusion in The Best 390 Colleges.

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The Federalist Papers

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Discover the Genius of the Constitution

Thomas Jefferson described The Federalist Papers as “the best commentary on the principles of government, which ever was written.”

In this free ten-lecture course you will gain a deeper understanding of the purpose and structure of the American Founding by studying the arguments of America’s most influential Founders. Written between October 1787 and August 1788, The Federalist Papers  is a collection of newspaper essays written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay in defense of the Constitution.

Taught by Hillsdale College’s politics faculty, this course explores the major themes of this classic work of American politics, such as the problem of majority faction, the importance of separation of powers, the nature of the three branches of government, and the argument concerning the Bill of Rights.

By enrolling in this course you will receive free access to the course lectures, readings, and quizzes to aid you in this examination of the greatest Constitution ever written.

We invite you to join us today in this urgent study of the Constitution and what has been lost by the modern assault on it.  

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Lessons in this course.

Introduction: Articles of Confederation and the Constitutional Convention

Written following the Constitutional Convention of 1787,  The Federalist Papers  is the foremost American contribution to political thought. Originally published as newspaper essays in New York, they were written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the pen name Publius. The essays defended the merits of the Constitution as a necessary and good replacement for the Articles of Confederation, which had proven defective as a means of governance.

The Improved Science of Politics

Publius argued that the “science of politics . . . has received great improvement” in his own day. These improvements include separation of powers, legislative checks and balances, judges who serve a life term during good behavior, and what he called “the ENLARGEMENT of the ORBIT” of government. Contrary to the practice of previous republics, Publius argued that a republic had a much greater chance of achieving success if it is spread out over a large or extended territory, rather than a small or contracted one.

The Problem of Majority Faction

In  Federalist  10, Publius confronts one of the most important Anti-Federalist arguments against ratification: Republican government is impossible on a territory as large as the United States. In fact, such an undertaking had never been successful. In response, Publius proposes that the principal remedy for the political disease of faction—a disease “most incident to republican government”—is the large or extended sphere or territory.

Federalism and Republicanism

In the summer of 1787, the Framers labored to set up a political regime that would not only secure liberty and republicanism, but also bring energy and stability to the national government. Because of the failures of government under the Articles of Confederation, American political institutions were at risk. In order to secure these institutions, the Framers constructed a republican form of government that—among many other important features—instituted a new form of federalism.

Separation of Powers

In constituting a new government, the Framers knew that written rules—what Publius calls “parchment barriers”—would not be enough by themselves to protect liberty and prevent tyranny. Instead, Publius looks to the “interior structure” as the best means for keeping the branches properly and effectively separated. Separation of powers, the most important of the Constitution’s “auxiliary precautions,” works to prevent governmental tyranny, and by keeping each branch within its proper sphere of authority allows each branch to do its job well.

The Legislative: House and Senate

The Founders understood that the legislative branch is by nature the most powerful in a republican government. Experience of government under the Articles of Confederation, when state legislatures routinely encroached on executive and judicial powers, confirmed this. Thus, the Framers divided the legislative branch into two parts—the House and the Senate. In addition, they differentiated them as much as possible, consistent with the principles of republican government, with the goal of preventing tyranny and encouraging good government.

The Executive

Following their experience under the Articles of Confederation, and armed with the improved science of politics, the Framers instituted a unitary executive in the office of the president. Unlike the executive office in any previous republic, it was designed so as to ensure energy and responsibility in the executive, which are absolutely essential for good execution of the laws, and therefore for good government.

The Judiciary

In the Declaration of Independence, one charge leveled against King George III was that he had “made Judges dependent on his Will alone.” In framing a republican government, the Founders believed that an independent judiciary was indispensable. Publius argues that the term of life tenure during good behavior and a protected salary ensure this independence.

“The Constitution Is Itself . . . a Bill of Rights”

In  Federalist  84, Publius writes, “The truth is, after all the declamation we have heard, that the constitution is itself, in every rational sense, and to every useful purpose, A BILL OF RIGHTS.” In other words, the structure of the Constitution protects the rights of the people. In addition, the American people retain all powers not granted to the federal and state governments.

Conclusion: Constitutionalism Today

American government today is much different from the constitutional republic outlined in  The Federalist Papers —which relies on structure, representation, and limitations on the functions of the federal government. Administrative regulations and entitlements are two distinguishing features of modern government. These new features require a kind of government that is unlimited, disregards separation of powers, and violates the supreme law under which it claims to operate.

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The instructors are very good. The tests make you think. There are other helpful discussion screens and the whole process makes it feel much like a classroom setting. I feel the Federalist Papers are somewhat difficult to read on your own, so this course makes it much easier to understand.

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David French

Opinion Columnist

Jack Smith’s New Case Against Trump Is Much Stronger Than His Old One

When thinking about including charges in an indictment, prosecutors can decide which claims to make by asking whether the charge is strong or weak. In other words, does the evidence clearly support the charge, or would they be stretching either the evidence or the legal theory to make the case?

But there’s another, related calculation, and that’s asking whether the claim is clean or complicated. By “clean,” I mean simple and direct. Is this a charge, regardless of the strength of evidence, that the jury will find easy to understand? Obviously, the best possible case to bring is one that’s both clean and strong: The statutes and evidence are straightforward. The case is relatively easy to make.

And that’s exactly how I’d describe the new Jack Smith indictment of Donald Trump . I disagree strongly with the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling, but to the extent there is any silver lining in that dark constitutional cloud, it’s that for Smith, less is truly more.

Even absent the immunity ruling, Smith’s first indictment would have given Trump room to argue that he was doing nothing more than using the levers of government power to investigate election fraud, a classic function of the Department of Justice. His actions were corrupt and unprecedented, but their official nature gave him hope for a defense.

Trump’s fake electors scheme, by contrast, was a campaign function, not an exercise of presidential power.

In fact, during the oral argument in Trump v. United States, Amy Coney Barrett elicited a series of representations from Trump’s counsel that a number of claims in the original indictment involved Trump’s private conduct. For example, she asked if it was private conduct when “three private actors; two attorneys, including those mentioned above; and a political consultant helped implement a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential electors to obstruct the certification proceeding, and petitioner” — Trump — “and a co-conspirator attorney directed that effort.”

Trump’s attorney affirmed, “That’s private.”

Not only is that private; it’s among the strongest claims in the whole case. There was never a credible argument for fake electors. And by conspiring to submit fraudulent electoral votes, Trump’s conduct fits squarely within precedent for federal offenses .

If Trump wins the presidency again, the case will disappear. But if he loses, he’ll stand trial, and Smith has now brought a much better case against the former president.

Frank Bruni

Contributing Opinion Writer

Why Kamala Harris Might Just Win North Carolina

When Vice President Kamala Harris started talking policy with a heavily promoted speech about voters’ top concern — the economy — where do you suppose she did it?

My home state, North Carolina. And my governor, Roy Cooper, was the Democrat chosen to introduce her on the climactic final night of the party’s convention.

But then Donald Trump stages a rally in North Carolina seemingly every other week — often enough that I’m terrified he’ll build and start hanging out at some Tar Heel analogue of Mar-a-Lago. He’s fixated on this place.

For good reason. North Carolina has 16 electoral college votes — the same as Georgia, one more than Michigan and only one fewer than Ohio. And they appear to be in play. On Tuesday, the Cook Political Report moved North Carolina into the tossup category .

The state hasn’t voted Democratic in a presidential election since 2008, when Barack Obama won, but Joe Biden lost here in 2020 by only about 75,000 votes, or under 1.4 percentage points.

And 2024 is different. Political analysts here tell me that they’re struck by the burst of energy for the Harris campaign and its significant investment in the state, where, according to the Pew Research Center, about 23 percent of eligible voters are Black, in contrast to 14 percent nationally. They haven’t seen anything like it since 2008.

Additionally, Michael Bitzer, a professor of politics and history at Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C., noted that in the Republican presidential primary here, Nikki Haley received hefty percentages of the votes in urban counties even though her campaign by then was a lost cause. That suggests a potent anti-Trump sentiment among moderate Republicans and independents.

There’s yet another distinctive dynamic this time around. The slate of Republican candidates for statewide office is MAGA fury through and through. Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor, is a firebrand with a history of misogynistic, homophobic, antisemitic and altogether deranged remarks . Michele Morrow, the Republican nominee for superintendent of public instruction, has suggested that Cooper, Biden, Obama, Hillary Clinton and Anthony Fauci should be executed for treason — and that Obama’s killing should be televised.

Asher Hildebrand, a fellow professor at Duke University’s School of Public Policy, said that while that extremism probably won’t “push too many voters to the polls for Harris, it very well might keep some Trump voters home.”

And in an election potentially decided by one measly percentage point, such disaffection absolutely could turn North Carolina blue.

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Jesse Wegman

Editorial Board Member

Even the Supreme Court Can’t Save Trump From Himself

If you’re going to subject yourself to one of Donald Trump’s social media tirades, it’s generally best to do so with a strong drink close at hand. Every now and then, however, the former president’s all-caps screeds offer a useful road map to understanding the basics of whatever issue he’s raving about — as long as you flip everything he says right-side up.

On Tuesday, Trump took to his failing website , Truth Social, to rage against the special counsel Jack Smith’s new and improved indictment against him for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

“For them to do this after our Supreme Court Victory on Immunity and more, is shocking,” Trump wrote. The new indictment, he claimed, “has all the problems of the old Indictment, and should be dismissed IMMEDIATELY.”

Poor Trump. He was confident that after the Supreme Court — his Supreme Court — went rogue last month and immunized him from prosecution for virtually all “official” acts, he was in the clear.

But the Supreme Court’s bonkers decision did leave a few doors open for criminal prosecutions of former presidents, and Smith has taken full advantage of them. His new indictment, while nine pages shorter than the original, retains all the same fraud, obstruction and conspiracy charges. It leaves out only the actions that the court’s majority ruled were unquestionably immune, such as Trump’s attempts to force the Justice Department to investigate nonexistent voter fraud in swing states. In this regard, it very conspicuously does not have “all the problems of the old indictment.”

Nor is it accurate to say, as Trump did, that “you’re not even allowed to bring cases literally right before an Election.” He was referring, presumably, to the Justice Department’s so-called 60-day rule , which is not actually a rule but a general guideline that prohibits taking overt steps that could influence how people vote in an upcoming election.

This is a sensible caution in a rule-of-law society, but it doesn’t apply to existing cases that are already filed and under the control of the judicial branch, as Smith’s prosecution of Trump has been for more than a year.

In fact, this is only an issue because Trump, abetted by the right-wing majority of the Supreme Court, has appealed and delayed the proceedings at every step. The justices had multiple opportunities to fast-track Trump’s appeals as early as December. They rejected all of them with no explanation, waiting until the very last moment to issue a ruling with zero constitutional support.

Now Trump is acting like it’s all so unfair — or “lawfare and weaponization,” as he put it. So flip that right-side up: He’s the person who chose to weaponize the law, and the presidency, no one else. If the rule of law means anything, it means that he will face accountability for his actions, sooner or later.

Michelle Cottle

Opinion Writer

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz Are Road-Tripping Through Georgia. Could They Actually Win There?

I can see why many people might not consider late August the best time to head to the Deep South. So hot. So sticky. But this week strikes me as the perfect moment for the Democratic presidential ticket to take a quick bus tour around southern Georgia.

Hot off their multiday love fest in Chicago, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are making clear they intend to play hard for Georgia, a battleground state, and not just in the politically blue, population-rich metro area of Atlanta. With the presidential race promising to be tight and ugly, they are wisely venturing outside the party’s usual comfort zones and are sending a message similar to the one from their preconvention road trip around Pennsylvania: We will show up in every part of the state and fight for every vote.

It seems worth noting that southern Georgia has an abundance of Black voters, a demographic the Democratic Party was feeling very shaky about when President Biden was looking like the nominee — and is hoping to re-energize now that Harris is at the top of the ticket. But even before Biden stepped aside, the party was investing in the area. “The South Georgia region is a priority for the campaign,” a representative for the Harris team told NBC . “We have nearly 50 full-time staff across seven offices in the area, including Valdosta. We have hosted more than 500 events in the region since May 31.”

Team Trump is not conceding any ground. Last week Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, headlined an event in Valdosta, a majority-Black city not too far from the Florida state line. (Although it was Vance’s cringey stop at an area doughnut shop that wound up being widely shared on social media.)

So far, Trump has a polling edge in the state. But his troubled history with Georgia, where he is widely believed to have cost Republicans a Senate seat or two in recent years, makes it tricky terrain. Also, he has struggled to let go of his feud with the state’s popular governor, Brian Kemp. Just a few weeks ago, Trump trashed Kemp at a rally in Atlanta. This freaked out more than a few Republicans, and some kind of truce was brokered. Last week, Kemp endorsed Trump on Fox News.

Still, there is a whole lot of bad blood swirling around the state, and the entire situation feels unsettled — and potentially exploitable by the Democrats.

A postconvention bus tour feels like a good place to start.

Serge Schmemann

After Israel’s Hostage Rescue, Could There Finally Be a Cease-Fire Deal?

The rescue of an Israeli hostage held by Hamas in Gaza on Tuesday was hailed as something of a miracle in Israel. But it did little to quell the anger among many Israelis over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s resistance to a cease-fire deal that would bring home all the remaining hostages — dead and alive.

The details of the rescue were not immediately clear. The Israeli military spoke of a “complex military operation.” Unnamed senior Israeli officials told The Times that commandos were scouring Hamas tunnels when they came upon Farhan al-Qadi, 52, a member of Israel’s Bedouin minority who was working at a kibbutz when he was seized in the Hamas raid of Oct. 7. In either case, he was the eighth hostage to be freed by the military.

With the latest rescue, 108 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, including 13 whose deaths have been confirmed, according to Haaretz. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group that represents the families of the hostages, said that the rest cannot hope to be freed by military operations. “A deal is the only way to secure the return of the remaining 108 hostages — the living for rehabilitation and the murdered for proper burial,” it said in a statement .

A deal seemed tantalizingly close at the end of May, when President Biden reported progress toward a phased cease-fire that would lead to the liberation of all remaining hostages and end the grueling fight that has taken more than 40,000 Palestinian lives. But since then, both Netanyahu and Yahya Sinwar, the elusive Hamas leader in Gaza, have repeatedly put roadblocks in the way of an agreement, with Netanyahu insisting on the full destruction of Hamas and Sinwar saying he would accept only a permanent end to hostilities. Last week Secretary of State Antony Blinken, told reporters that a bridging proposal offered by Washington was probably the best — and possibly the last — opportunity for a deal. The last round of talks ended in Cairo on Sunday without one.

Netanyahu’s insistence on a decisive victory has placed him at odds not only with the hostages’ families but also with the Israeli military, which questions whether a total victory over Hamas is feasible and is concerned about a potential clash with Hezbollah. More broadly, polls have shown that a majority of Israelis support a cease-fire in exchange for the hostages.

Al-Qadi did not join the debate as he profusely thanked those responsible for his liberation. But in a meeting with the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, al-Qadi urged the government “to do everything to bring people home.”

“Twenty-four hours without sleep,” he said. “People are suffering, suffering you can’t imagine.”

Tulsi Gabbard’s Trumpy Transition Is Now Complete

Step back, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. You aren’t even the most interesting ex-Democrat-turned-MAGA-tool to endorse Donald Trump this month.

For my money, that would be Tulsi Gabbard, the former House member and 2020 contender to unseat President Trump.

Gabbard has been on quite the political journey. She never got much traction in her 2020 race. But she did win herself a small but intensely passionate following based heavily on her isolationist leanings — which, admittedly, are more electrifying than most, thanks to her penchant for making indulgent statements about bloodthirsty strongmen such as Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin. Indeed, Gabbard’s soft-on-Russia musings have been at times so striking that Hillary Clinton publicly called her “a Russian asset,” prompting Gabbard to sue Clinton for defamation. (Gabbard later dropped the suit.)

Gabbard quit the Democratic Party in 2022 and became an independent, saying it had fallen “under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness,” and promptly began making nice with the red team. She hit the campaign trail for Republican candidates in the midterms. She spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference . Conveniently, she was already a hot guest on Fox News.

For this election, she has settled snugly into the MAGA fold — all the more so since Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee. Gabbard has been helping Trump with his debate prep . During a primary debate in 2019, you may recall, Gabbard hit Harris hard from the left — successfully enough to leave a mark and tick off Harris . Trump, who has been struggling to figure out how to deal with his new opponent, is clearly hoping some of Gabbard’s mojo rubs off on him.

Just in case anyone had any doubts as to her new allegiance, Gabbard endorsed Trump on Monday. They appeared together at a National Guard conference in Detroit, on the third anniversary of the bombing in Afghanistan that killed 13 U.S. service members. A National Guard veteran, Gabbard asserted that Trump “understands the grave responsibility that a president and commander in chief bears for every single one of our lives.”

The next day, Trump announced that Gabbard was joining his transition team, as is Mr. Kennedy.

Team Trump is presumably betting that bringing on former Democrats will send a signal that his campaign is the one with a big tent and mainstream appeal. But when we’re talking about characters as … colorful as Gabbard and Kennedy, I’m betting the signal to many voters is that Trump’s G.O.P. is the home of the politically strange.

Zeynep Tufekci

‘Free Speech’ Should Not Shroud Criminal Activity

The detention in France of Pavel Durov, the founder and chief executive of the messaging app Telegram, has sparked a loud outcry about free speech. Elon Musk has portrayed the arrest on his X account as an ominous threat to free speech, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. referred to the app as an “encrypted, uncensored” platform and said “the need to protect free speech has never been more urgent.”

It’s a curious case, and the French government hasn’t helped matters by releasing information in dribs and drabs. While it is possible that there are free speech issues entangled here, some early details suggest the issue may be one of criminal activity.

On Monday, the French prosecutor said in a statement that Durov — who is a citizen of France, Russia, St. Kitts and Nevis and the United Arab Emirates — was being held for questioning in connection with an investigation into criminal activities on the app, including the trading of child sexual abuse material as well as drug trafficking, fraud and money laundering. Notably, Telegram explicitly boasts that it has never disclosed user data to any government, ever.

Questions have long swirled around Telegram. Contrary to widespread belief, Telegram is not encrypted in any meaningful sense. That would be “end to end” encryption, so that even the company couldn’t read users’ messages. Telegram — and anyone it chooses — can read all group chats, and there is no way to fully encrypt them. Those very large groups are the main attraction of the platform.

Private chats on Telegram also lack end-to-end encryption by default. Here, though, users can undergo an onerous process to turn on end-to-end encryption, which then applies only to that conversation. Even the protection provided to private chats is murky: Cryptography experts have long questioned whether Telegram’s limited encryption actually meets security standards.

Durov was born in Russia, where Telegram is used widely. The Kremlin has Durov’s back: It issued a statement that unless more evidence is provided, Durov’s detention may be “a direct attempt to limit freedom of communication.” Russian antiwar activists have long wondered how the Kremlin seems to know so much about their activities on Telegram. (Good question.)

Free speech is an important value, but protecting it does not mean absolving anyone of responsibility for all criminal activity. Ironically, Telegram’s shortage of end-to-end encryption means the company is likely to be more liable simply because it can see the criminal activity happening on its platform. If, for example, Telegram did not cooperate with authorities at all after receiving legal warrants for information about criminal activities, that would mean trouble even in the United States, with its sweeping free speech protections.

Neel V. Patel

Opinion Staff Editor

Faced With the Boeing Starliner’s Flaws, NASA Gets a Couple of Things Right

Odysseus may lay claim to the most delayed and perilous trip back home, but the NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are giving him a run for his money. What was supposed to be a weeklong mission to the International Space Station will now be an eight-month stay in space, after the spacecraft they launched aboard, the Boeing Starliner, experienced some unexpected glitches .

Boeing has been utterly humiliated by the Starliner’s failure, not least because the company’s rival, SpaceX, will take Wilmore and Williams home. But it’s NASA that deserves applause: Faced with an unsettling turn of events for its human spaceflight program, the agency has gotten a couple of things right.

It got the first thing right nearly a decade ago. In September 2014, NASA awarded contracts to both SpaceX and Boeing for their commercial crew programs, effectively saying it would pay two companies to develop new spacecraft capable of ferrying astronauts to and from the space station. The veteran aerospace firm Boeing was awarded $4.2 billion, while the newcomer SpaceX was awarded $2.6 billion.

While both companies’ programs were mired in delays, SpaceX eventually vaulted ahead of Boeing and pulled off a successful crewed flight to space in 2020. Boeing remained sluggish. Throughout this period, NASA emphasized that the whole reason it gave contracts to two companies in the first place was in case one company hit snags. The wisdom of that choice is on full display now, as Wilmore and Williams can return home on a SpaceX mission, after the Boeing mission went awry. Redundancy paid off.

NASA got one other thing right during this debacle. Though Wilmore and Williams are trapped in space until February, the agency is wisely playing it safe. There isn’t much reason to think the Starliner couldn’t securely bring the astronauts back to Earth. But NASA is choosing not to risk a repeat of the tragic Challenger and Columbia disasters. Taking risks is a fundamental part of spaceflight, but the United States is no longer in a race to beat the Soviets. NASA can and should take its time to reduce the odds of risk whenever possible. It’s the right thing to do.

The astronauts’ delayed return must be truly aggravating for both of them and their families. But it’s unquestionably preferable to an alternative outcome that would put them both in any sort of elevated danger.

Pamela Paul

Gus Walz Brought Out Both the Joy and the Cruelty

Gus Walz’s unbridled emotional reaction last week at the Democratic National Convention to the nomination of his father, Gov. Tim Walz, embodied both the humanity that lies beneath the political process and the momentousness of the political process itself.

In other words, Gus reacted the way he did because he recognized the import of his father’s nomination. And because the man onstage was his father — “That’s my dad!” — a man who raised and supported and accepted and loved him for who he is, a 17-year-old boy with anxiety and a learning disorder and, as Tina Brown wrote in her gorgeous essay on Friday, a human being like any other.

Gus’s reaction was beautiful. And then things got ugly .

In response to Gus’s exuberance, Ann Coulter posted on X, “Talk about weird …” (She later took her post down.) “Sorry, but this is embarrassing for both father and son,” the conservative radio host Jay Weber posted. “If the Walzs represent today’s American man, this country is screwed,” he said, adding a crude insult of the teenage Walz. (He, too, removed his post.)

Perhaps they didn’t know the context. They didn’t know anything about Gus Walz beyond the politics of his father. They didn’t realize they should have been kind. Few people do before issuing a least-charitable-interpretation potshot. People’s private lives, their psychological state, their family or personal circumstances and their disabilities are often invisible. This is as true for public figures as it is for private citizens. Gus didn’t deserve “special” treatment — he deserved the kind of treatment any person does.

If nothing else, Gus reminds us of what an unfiltered human reaction looks like and what a sharp contrast it makes with the noxious swill of performance, hot takes and low blows that passes for online political commentary.

Let’s dwell on that contrast for a moment. Gus’s surge of emotion offered an image of us at our all-too-human best. Those who chose to disparage him reeked of our all-too-human worst. Gus Walz showed us what it means to really care about other people. His critics made clear they’ve forgotten how.

Patrick Healy

Deputy Opinion Editor

Harris Has the Momentum. But Trump Has the Edge on What Matters Most.

Every Monday morning on The Point, we kick off the week with a tipsheet on the latest in the presidential campaign. Here’s what we’re looking at this week:

We’ll know soon what kind of polling bounce Kamala Harris got out of her very good convention in Chicago. I’m especially curious how she’s faring in Pennsylvania and Georgia, which are the most critical battlegrounds in the race. Given Harris’s and the convention’s focus on themes like patriotism, small-town values and the economy, I can see her gaining a couple of points in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. The Democrats’ hammering of Trump on abortion is also going to help Harris in Pennsylvania and Arizona, where abortion rights is a hot-button issue.

The Democrats’ Joyfest is Over. Now Comes The Slugfest.

But consider this: Harris has won the vast majority of news cycles since she declared her candidacy. And yet, she is only two or three percentage points ahead of Trump in the national polling average and effectively tied with him in the seven swing states that will decide the election. Structural factors — polarization, the gender gap, Republicans’ advantage in the Electoral College — are keeping this race tight.

To that end, with early voting only weeks away, the battle between Harris and Trump will be to find the best strategies for the three most important elements of this campaign.

Defining the race: Harris wants to make the race about the future, freedom and unity; Trump wants to make the race about the past, his presidency and threats to the country. Harris has effectively cast the race as a choice between her and Trump, which helps her because he is so unpopular. But there is still time for this to change, especially if an unexpected or outside event suddenly shifts voter attention to safety or national security.

Defining Harris: So far, Harris is also winning on this front, positioning herself as the candidate of change — an appealing image to many voters. Trump is trying to define her as “ dangerously liberal ” and as the de facto incumbent, but even some Republican strategists tell me that they don’t see strong evidence this is catching on. Trump will campaign in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania later this week; watch for whether he starts trying to define her anew.

Defining Trump: The former president is struggling. He is trying to appeal to moderate and independent voters by opposing a national abortion ban and talking about the economy; if he had the discipline to bear down on the cost of living, trade and immigration, he’d be doing better than he is in Pennsylvania, where those issues resonate. But as the Democratic strategist Doug Sosnik put it to me, the only way Trump can win the presidency is by turning out his vote strongly and edging out his opponent with sufficient numbers of swing voters — which is what he did successfully in 2016.

Right now, Harris has the momentum, but I think the Electoral College currently favors Trump . Nothing will be more critical than the Sept. 10 debate to define the race, Trump and Harris. A debate changes things in an instant. Just ask Joe Biden.

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