British police have made a huge number of CHILLING arrests over social media posts, new figures mapping arrests made by different police forces reveal. Maya Thompson, Big Brother Watch’s legal and policy officer said:
“Despite the prime minister’s assurances that ‘We’re not censoring anyone’ the UK is unfortunately gaining an international reputation as a country where online speech is policed with more enthusiasm than the types of crime causing people the most anxiety and concern.
‘The vast discrepancies in the number of arrests across different police forces speaks to just how open to interpretation British laws on speech are.
‘The right to speak freely is a cherished British freedom that underpins our democracy and yet it is being eroded by these chilling arrests for online speech that may not involve any risk of real-world harm at all.
‘The government should immediately reexamine the laws that allow for this scale of arrest for online speech and rescue the UK’s worsening civil liberties reputation.”