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In 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

by iso1631 9mo ago

ambicapter 9mo ago
Link?
- RickJWagner 9mo ago
  Here 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 ago
    These are ALL about the UK, including the “congress.gov” link.
    - RickJWagner 9mo ago
      My apologies. I thought you were asking on a different branch ( about the USA). The misunderstanding is my fault.
zugi 9mo ago
These 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 ago
  Not 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 ago
    Yes, 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 ago
      If 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.
      - FireBeyond 9mo ago
        > If 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. Yeah, in my state, the Sheriff of my County is beefing with the next County's Sheriff, because among other things, that Sheriff's perspective on "is it legal" was literally, and I quote, not paraphrase. "Make the arrest. If it's wrong, the courts can figure it out." Great, slap people with the arrest, the inconvenience of being jailed, charged, and having to hire a lawyer because you don't give a fuck about doing your job. Not coincidentally, same Sheriff is openly inviting ICE to the towns in his county saying his Department will provide additional protective cover.

In 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

by iso1631 9mo ago

In 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 ago

Link?

RickJWagner 9mo ago
Here 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 ago
  These are ALL about the UK, including the “congress.gov” link.
  - RickJWagner 9mo ago
    My apologies. I thought you were asking on a different branch ( about the USA). The misunderstanding is my fault.

zugi 9mo ago

These 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 ago
Not 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 ago
  Yes, 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 ago
    If 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.
    - FireBeyond 9mo ago
      > If 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. Yeah, in my state, the Sheriff of my County is beefing with the next County's Sheriff, because among other things, that Sheriff's perspective on "is it legal" was literally, and I quote, not paraphrase. "Make the arrest. If it's wrong, the courts can figure it out." Great, slap people with the arrest, the inconvenience of being jailed, charged, and having to hire a lawyer because you don't give a fuck about doing your job. Not coincidentally, same Sheriff is openly inviting ICE to the towns in his county saying his Department will provide additional protective cover.