I’ve had too many circular discussions of this issue on HN already, but arrests are a low bar. You can find examples of people being arrested for stupid reasons in pretty much any country if you google for it. The exact reasons might vary, but any individual police officer being a moron at any moment can lead to someone being arrested.
There are also some examples of people being convicted for questionable reasons, but the UK is far from the only country with laws against hate speech. It is really the US that is the outlier in having a fundamental legal guarantee of the right to hate speech.
Are there similar examples from Europe or the West? I know there are restrictions for promoting Nazism in some countries, but the UK seems to be an outlier when it comes to censoring offensive content in general.
Honestly, the point of these laws is that they could get rid of anyone they want to. It is not usually enforced (AFAIK). It is there in place to enforce it on people they do not like, at any point.
I found these two:
https://www.womenarehuman.com/man-arrested-for-sharing-meme-...
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/uk-teens-who-mocked-ge...
I’ve had too many circular discussions of this issue on HN already, but arrests are a low bar. You can find examples of people being arrested for stupid reasons in pretty much any country if you google for it. The exact reasons might vary, but any individual police officer being a moron at any moment can lead to someone being arrested.
There are also some examples of people being convicted for questionable reasons, but the UK is far from the only country with laws against hate speech. It is really the US that is the outlier in having a fundamental legal guarantee of the right to hate speech.
Are there similar examples from Europe or the West? I know there are restrictions for promoting Nazism in some countries, but the UK seems to be an outlier when it comes to censoring offensive content in general.
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You can be caged, too, mate.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/21/section/127
Well, not by the UK at least, since I don't live there.
That is a relief. :P
Honestly, the point of these laws is that they could get rid of anyone they want to. It is not usually enforced (AFAIK). It is there in place to enforce it on people they do not like, at any point.
https://www.cps.gov.uk/north-west/news/man-jailed-offensive-...