'free speech' has always been limited; every society, community or social group has speech taboo's - there probably isn't an example in history where there was 'anything goes' policy.
The main differences we can observe are a) what topics are taboo and b) how they are policed (downvote on HN is a good example of a modern technique!)
Social taboos do not belong in the same category as threats to one's livelihood, which in turn do not belong in the same category as government intervention.
of course they do - explicit threat of violence eventually recedes into 'voluntarily' observed taboos over time.