Self-censor to avoid censure?

This morning I played tennis with a guy who is roughly my age (60s) and who emigrated from the Russia when it was under Communist rule. He said he came here to have freedom of speech. He feels he doesn't have freedom of speech anymore. My friend said it isn't the government that is preventing him from expressing his ideas. He is self-censoring to avoid censure from his "friends" and family. That could be the sad slogan of our time: "Self-censor to avoid censure."

I know there is a fundamental difference between government censorship of speech and the feeling you can’t speak freely on politics with family or friends. The first is political freedom of speech; I’d call the second one social freedom of speech. (Yes, I know there are some limits on what you can say about other people that falls under defamation.)