Campaigners urge Burnham to review UK’s “anti free speech laws”
-
Big Brother Watch report reveals free speech is in “downward spiral” in the UK
-
Former Minister turned Reform member Nadine Dorries backs calls for review of “dogs dinner” online safety laws her government led
-
FOIs reveal “postcode lottery” of speech policing across the country, with some forces making thousands of unnecessary arrests
Britain is facing a free speech crisis and the government must launch an independent national review into laws limiting expression, a new report by the campaign group Big Brother Watch has found. Unintended effects of the Online Safety Act (OSA), a postcode lottery in policing of communications offences, a crackdown on protests and Whitehall’s so-called counter-disinformation operation are all limiting Britons’ speech.
Writing in the report, former Secretary of State Nadine Dorries, who led the OSA through Parliament, echoed the demand for a review into laws limiting speech and admits that the law she pioneered “failed to secure either the protection of children, or to protect the fundamental principle of any democracy, freedom of speech”.
Titled ‘Britain’s Free Speech Problem’ the Big Brother Watch report investigates how a patchwork of vague laws, a “postcode lottery” of policing, and a relentless stream of new restrictions are slowly limiting one of the country’s most cherished democratic freedoms.
KEY REPORT FINDINGS
-
Videos from mainstream political parties, forums for single dads and social media discussions about BBC News articles have either been taken down, restricted or placed behind ID demands due to the Online Safety Act.
-
More than 62,000 people in the UK were arrested for communications offences over 5 years, with at least 18,500 being charged and 12,292 convicted.
-
There is a “postcode lottery” of speech policing, with drastically varying rates of arrests across police forces, reflecting the elasticity of vaguely defined speech offences in UK law – Cumbria arrested people at around 14 times the rate of neighbouring Northumbria
-
Flags of posts to social media companies from Whitehall ‘counter disinformation’ teams are rising again after a post-pandemic fall.
Burnham urged to review speech laws
Big Brother Watch, backed by the Free Speech Union and Index on Censorship among other civil liberties groups, has written to Andy Burnham to urge him to commission an independent national review of laws affecting freedom of speech in the UK, warning of a “censorship crisis” arising from “draconian” anti-protest laws, “excessively broad” speech offences, “poorly drafted” online safety laws, and inadequate police training.
Britain’s Free Speech Problem: in detail
The new Big Brother Watch report reveals the bleak state of free speech in Britain today. It examines how the Online Safety Act has led to small forums on a host of topics being forced to shut down, while social media posts from political parties, on British history and about famous artworks were faced with restrictions or placed behind mandatory age gates by platforms trying to keep up with UK legal restrictions.
A unique analysis of 8 large Reddit communities shows how discussions as diverse as horror film posters, advice on supporting a friend through chemotherapy, 1970s punk bands and annoying papercuts were all placed behind digital age barriers. Online services both large and small are incentivised by the OSA to be very cautious in how they limit Britons’ access to content online.
In the foreword to the damning report, former Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport Nadine Dorries says that in passing the Online Safety Act as it is Parliament took a “significant step towards a more illiberal digital public square”.Mrs Dorries acknowledges that “faced with the prospect of regulatory penalties, companies have every incentive to err on the side of removing content rather than defending open debate”.
The report also contains a systematic analysis of the arrest and charge rates of every UK police force for three key communications offences. Data obtained by Freedom of Information requests shows that one person was arrested for every 1,110 living in the UK for communications offences since 2021. However police forces were not even in their arrest rates, revealing a postcode lottery in enforcement. Cumbria arrested people at around 14 times the rate of neighbouring Northumbria. Meanwhile, some police forces arrested 10 people for every one charge, more than triple the national average, raising questions about whether many arrests were truly necessary.
Big Brother Watch concludes that the chilling effect of the Online Safety Act, the postcode lottery in the policing of speech, alongside draconian protest crackdowns and ongoing secretive “counter-disinformation” operations are making Britain hostile to free speech. The campaign group is demanding an independent national review into the laws affecting freedom of speech in the UK and for action to “restore Britain’s free speech laws and culture”.
The call for a review was backed by Mrs Dorries, now a prominent Reform UK member, who writes: “I fully support the call for an independent national review of all laws implemented by successive governments which collectively, fail to fully protect children online, limit freedom of speech and amount to the digital equivalent of a dog’s dinner.”
COMMENTS
Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, said:
“There is a great deal of concern among the public, in Parliament, and in the human rights community that the right balance has not be struck on free speech and it is long overdue that the Government takes action.
“Thousands of people are being arrested for non-violent protest, controversial speech and online jokes. People have even been arrested for holding blank pieces of paper, whilst police visited a TV presenter’s home under the Online Safety Act to urge her to take an ‘online thinking skills’ course following her posts opposing animal testing labs. Enough is enough.
“We want the Government to restore Britain’s long and proud tradition of upholding freedom of speech. That must start with a close look at how our laws are working in practice and a willingness to reform.”
ENDS
NOTES
-
Spokespeople are available for interview. Please direct enquiries or requests for interviews to[email protected] or 07730439257
-
Our full report is available here: https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Britains-Free-Speech-Problem-070926.pdf
-
A launch event for the report is taking place in the House of Commons Committee room 8, 18:00-19:30 on Wednesday 9th September. Journalists can RSVP here.
-
More information about the campaign is available at https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/
-
Big Brother Watch is a UK civil liberties campaign group fighting for a free future. We’re a fiercely independent, diverse, non-partisan and non-profit group of campaigners and researchers, who work to roll back the surveillance state.