JK Rowling and Salman Rushdie say we should put a stop to 'cancel culture' - here's what that means

Over 150 high-profile signatories have added their names to an open letter published in Harper's Magazine, that warns of an "intolerant climate" for free speech.

JK Rowling, Sir Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood are among the figures from the arts world who have signed the letter, which denounces what it calls a weakening of open debate in favour of "ideological conformity".

The letter comes amid a debate over so-called cancel culture, where public figures face criticism for perceived acts of offence.

Here’s everything you need to know:

What is cancel culture?

While the letter never mentions ‘cancel culture’ directly, many have been describing it as an attack on the relatively new phenomenon.

Cancel culture is an extension of online shaming, and has become more prevalent in recent years as the world becomes ever more connected through social media.

Critics of cancel culture lament the speed with which people are ostracised by friends, followers and supporters for expressing views at odds with many of their fans.

It especially affects those with public followings and careers, who can find themselves boycotted following questionable or controversial opinions and behaviours; this can lead to declines in careers, fans and sales.

Sometimes, these transgressions could be legitimate mistakes, as people learn their way through an increasingly more inclusive society.

The letter in Harper's Magazine criticised the current state of public debate and the "swift and severe retribution" dealt out to any perceived wrongs.

It states: "The free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted.

What did the letter say?

"While we have come to expect this on the radical right, censoriousness is also spreading more widely in our culture: an intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism, and the tendency to dissolve complex policy issues in a blinding moral certainty."

The letter does describe recent movements for social justice as a "needed reckoning", saying: "We uphold the value of robust and even caustic counter-speech from all quarters.

“But it is now all too common to hear calls for swift and severe retribution in response to perceived transgressions of speech and thought.

"More troubling still, institutional leaders, in a spirit of panicked damage control, are delivering hasty and disproportionate punishments instead of considered reforms."