You may be surprised to hear that the situation is a bit more nuanced than that because freedom of speech is not, in fact, an unlimited freedom. Wherever different rights and freedoms overlap and endanger each other, every society must weigh them against each other and sometimes give preference to one freedom by limiting another. That means that certain ways of using free speech are not protected. One layman’s example that one keeps hearing would be shouting “fire” in a crowded theater. Certain calls for violence can be criminally prosecuted because they would endanger other people’s right to live, for example.

The reason behind these limitations to freedom of speech is the so-called “paradox of tolerance”. In essence, it says that a democratic society that tolerates even attempts to overthrow its core tenets will be upended by destructive ideologies unless active steps are taken to prevent that. While the absolutely tolerant society is basically a buffet to slaughter and usurp for authoritarian ideologies, a democratic society that wants to survive needs to be a defensive democracy that limits attacks on its core values. And there’s an excellent case to be made that the nazi ideology is in its very core not compatible with a democratic society, so much so that in multiple countries like for example germany, it is illegal to shout “heil hitler” or use one’s freedom of expression to further the nazi ideology. And they are speaking from experience.