4 ms·
Don’t forget about social media posts. In the UK, people are being jailed for those today. Imagine if they used your past post history against you.
by RickJWagner 9mo ago
Don’t forget about social media posts. In the UK, people are being jailed for those today.
Imagine if they used your past post history against you.
- iso1631 9mo agoIn the US if you make a social media post threatening the president you are breaking the law and can be sent to jail just as much as if you said it
- ambicapter 9mo agoLink?
- RickJWagner 9mo agoHere are a few. https://www.congress.gov/119/meeting/house/118565/documents/HHRG-119-JU00-20250903-SD039-U39.pdf https://www.congress.gov/119/meeting/house/118565/documents/... https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2025/09/09/people-are-being-thrown-in-uk-prisons-over-what-theyve-said-online-can-free-speech-be-saved/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2025/09/09/people-a... https://winslowlawyers.com/uk-man-arrested-for-malicious-communications/ https://winslowlawyers.com/uk-man-arrested-for-malicious-com...
- ambicapter 9mo agoThese are ALL about the UK, including the “congress.gov” link.
- RickJWagner 9mo agoMy apologies. I thought you were asking on a different branch ( about the USA). The misunderstanding is my fault.
- zugi 9mo agoThese are both true statements, but there's a huge difference in scale. The UK arrests 12,000 people per year for social media posts ( https://freedomhouse.org/country/united-kingdom/freedom-net/2025#:~:text=According%20to%20an%20April%202025,4 https://freedomhouse.org/country/united-kingdom/freedom-net/... ), for a broad range of vague reasons including causing offense. That's far more than much larger totalitarian nations like Russia and China. The US arrests folks for direct online threats of violence - a much higher bar.
- lovich 9mo agoNot anymore. Now in the US you can be arrested if cops think you disrespected a dead guy they liked[1] [1] https://apnews.com/article/charlie-kirk-meme-tennessee-arrest-larry-bushart-02b445f454bcfb657a48e8fa7e8ddfc9 https://apnews.com/article/charlie-kirk-meme-tennessee-arres...
- zugi 9mo agoYes, that was egregious and well-publicized. I've seen another case of a small-town sheriff arresting someone for a Facebook post that absolutely was not a threat of violence. Both were released and I believe the latter won a lawsuit for wrongful arrest. But in general in the US "offending" others is not a legal basis for arrest, as much as some in power would like it to be.
- lovich 9mo agoIf the sheriff who arrested this person has zero personal consequences that make him change his behavior, then it is de facto legal for them to arrest you for your speech. They can do what they like, and your compensation if the courts think you were harmed, comes out of your own pocket as a taxpayer. Show me the incentives and I’ll show you the outcome. The incentive here is that someone the government don’t like got put in a cell for a month and couldn’t speak, and they get no downsides. I wonder what will keep happening more and more.
- 9mo ago
- crimsoneer 9mo agoNo they're not. An incredibly small number of people might get arrested if policing cocks up. Nobody is being jailed.
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- direwolf20 9mo agoWhich posts are people being jailed for?
- RickJWagner 9mo ago[flagged]
- direwolf20 9mo agoNotice how the AI didn't answer the question — and you chose to post it anyway.
- RickJWagner 9mo ago[flagged]
- direwolf20 9mo ago> Which posts are people being jailed for?
- RickJWagner 9mo agoGoogle turns up many. Here’s one, you can easily find more. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr548zdmz3jo https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr548zdmz3jo
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- gassi 9mo ago> Parlour, of Seacroft, Leeds, who called for an attack on a hotel housing refugees and asylum seekers on Facebook, became the first person to be jailed for stirring up racial hatred during the disorder. > Kay was convicted after he used social media to call for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set alight.