1 ' Free ' absolutely means 'free from any sorts constraints or controls. The context determines its different denotations, if any, as in 'free press', 'fee speech', 'free stuff' etc.
I checked Garner's Modern American Usage; although BG doesn't address free of vs. free from, he writes that the distinction between freedom of and freedom from is that the former indicates the "possession of a right" (freedom of speech) and the latter "protection from a wrong" (freedom from oppression). So free from is used to indicate protection from something problematic, and free of (which ...
"Free of" vs. "Free from" - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange
Free ride dates back to 1880, while free loader is a more recent construction “freeloader (n.) also free-loader, by 1939, from free (adj.) + agent noun from load (v.)As a verb, freeload is attested by 1967 and probably is a back-formation from this”
What is the opposite of free as in "free of charge" (when we speak about prices)? We can add not for negation, but I am looking for a single word.
A friend claims that the phrase for free is incorrect. Should we only say at no cost instead?
grammaticality - Is the phrase "for free" correct? - English Language ...
I don't think there's any difference in meaning, although "free of charges" is much less common than "free of charge". Regarding your second question about context: given that English normally likes to adopt the shortest phrasing possible, the longer form "free of charge" can be used as a means of drawing attention to the lack of demand for ...