Staying ahead of censors in 2025

Post by immibis » Tue, Dec 30, 2025, 2:20 AM UTC

curtisblaine wrote: post #310

immibis wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're not excusing themselves with "I can say whatever I want to" and "arrests for speech are invalid", are they? - they're not hiding behind free speech. They're excusing themselves with reasons like "You're arresting me for terrorism but I didn't do any terrorism" and "The UK is helping Israel do the next Holocaust, and it's important that we talk about that and hopefully stop doing it"

Yet, they're being silenced thanks to hate speech laws, laws that originally were drafted "to control the nazis". See how it cuts both ways?

Post by esperent » Tue, Dec 30, 2025, 2:46 AM UTC

graemep wrote: post #255

phatfish wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "the UK is a police state" meme is something amplified by the US right wing (it's always people from the US going nuts about it on HN, or those that consume too much American media). Like you say, it's dumb that the police are wasting their time moderating Twitter, but if someone (or a group) was verbally abusing another person enough in real life they would be arrested. The law should be changed to somehow accom…

I agree with you this is greatly exaggerated by the US right wing - along with much else about the UK. However, there are serious issues with hate speech laws. They go a long way beyond preventing abuse - threatening behaviour and similar were illegal before hate speech laws were passed. What hate speech laws made illegal were things that were not illegal, bit views that were judged unpleasant. We also now have crimi…

Post by esperent » Tue, Dec 30, 2025, 2:52 AM UTC

poszlem wrote: post #211

esperent wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what I mean by everywhere having an agenda. Because if you just read that Vice article you'll come away thinking he's a "Scottish comedian" who was just joking around to annoy his girlfriend. And after all, they're well known to like off color jokes, the Scottish. This is clearly unfair. But if you dig a bit deeper, you'll find out that he soon after became a member of the far right UKIP party and was conside…

This is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If the state arrests someone for a joke, and that person, feeling persecuted, joins an anti-establishment or far-right group, the state cannot then say, "See? We were right to arrest him because he's now a member of that group." You are using Meechan’s political actions in 2018 and 2019 to justify a legal conviction for a video made in 2016 (which you said happened "soon after").

Post by darubedarob » Tue, Dec 30, 2025, 8:18 AM UTC

hdgvhicv wrote: post #92

throwfaraway135 wrote: post #17

Considering the staggering number of arrest for online/offensive communications in England & Wales, we should add Britain to the list of Russia and Iran 2017: ~5,500 arrests 2019: ~7,734 arrests 2023: ~12,183 arrests

American views on “free speech” are not global, both in terms of what’s banned and in terms of what’s not banned.

Post by wartywhoa23 » Tue, Dec 30, 2025, 12:17 PM UTC

immibis wrote: post #266

wartywhoa23 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I love Australia‘s banning of Social media for kids. Talking about ruthless dictators and true democrats in the same post.

Banning children from accessing things proven to be harmful to children does not a dictator make. Or else you'd be rallying just as hard to allow children to drink alcohol.