No need to speculate that the UK government "might" one day become the bad guys: they already arrest over 30 people a day for speech that offends the prevailing political orthodoxy.
I’d say it is a very low quality article. There is very little detail about what the offending speech actually includes. For example:
> The wife of a conservative politician was sentenced to 31 months in prison for what police said was an unacceptable post.
What did she say? The article does not elucidate.
Inciting violence for example is not legal. I believe spaces around abortion clinics are also to be free from demonstrations. US free speech absolutists seem to vehemently disagree until you say something unkind about Charlie Kirk or ICE.
The low point might be quoting Elon Musk. This is true in any context, but in particular here. The scandal is real, but none of it is about people being arrested for non-politically-correct speech.
There’s plenty of otherwise real stuff to poke the UK about.
I don't have time to dig up her post - but she was calling on people to set fire to hotels housing asylum seekers - she had around 10,000 followers, and her post was read 300,000 times: <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yl7p4l11po" rel="nofollow">https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yl7p4l11po
I am disappointed in most reporting on this case. I wish they would include what she actually said. Here is the full tweet:
> Mass deportation now, set fire to all the fucking hotels full of the
bastards for all I care, while you’re at it take the treacherous government
and politicians with them. I feel physically sick knowing what these
families will now have to endure. If that makes me racist so be it
That Hasan guy is American right? Unsurprisingly British laws need not apply.
I don't think that statement would go down too well here, but even then context is very important for incitement to violence. Considering people were and did set fire to hotels I think it was worthwhile investigating.
A guy Hasan didn't like got shot in the neck during a public debate. A pair of Jewish embassy workers were gunned down while walking to a museum. A health insurance company CEO was shot outside of a hotel. I could go on.
In the UK there was an attempted murder when someone attacked a protestor burning a Koran, but luckily the UK authorities convicted the victim of the attack with "asking for it"[1] so justice was served.
GB news is slop, you get to decide if you're misinformed or malicious.
The victims fine was overturned and the attacker was convincted, justice system working as intended:
<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9v7wlj3pr2o" rel="nofollow">https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9v7wlj3pr2o
31 months is extremely high given that the same country let off a guy who sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl with zero prison time for the two offenses combined.
failbuffer · · focus · HN ↗
[1] <a href="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/" rel="nofollow">https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2025/09/09/people-a...
rich_sasha · · focus · HN ↗
> The wife of a conservative politician was sentenced to 31 months in prison for what police said was an unacceptable post.
What did she say? The article does not elucidate.
Inciting violence for example is not legal. I believe spaces around abortion clinics are also to be free from demonstrations. US free speech absolutists seem to vehemently disagree until you say something unkind about Charlie Kirk or ICE.
The low point might be quoting Elon Musk. This is true in any context, but in particular here. The scandal is real, but none of it is about people being arrested for non-politically-correct speech.
There’s plenty of otherwise real stuff to poke the UK about.
ljf · · focus · HN ↗
ctjr · · focus · HN ↗
> Mass deportation now, set fire to all the fucking hotels full of the bastards for all I care, while you’re at it take the treacherous government and politicians with them. I feel physically sick knowing what these families will now have to endure. If that makes me racist so be it
[0] <a href="https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Connollysentence.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Connolly...
mschuster91 · · focus · HN ↗
dgroshev · · focus · HN ↗
AlexandrB · · focus · HN ↗
> “Kill those motherfuckers. Let the streets soak in their red, capitalist blood, dude.” - Hasan Piker on landlords
ozlikethewizard · · focus · HN ↗
I don't think that statement would go down too well here, but even then context is very important for incitement to violence. Considering people were and did set fire to hotels I think it was worthwhile investigating.
AlexandrB · · focus · HN ↗
A guy Hasan didn't like got shot in the neck during a public debate. A pair of Jewish embassy workers were gunned down while walking to a museum. A health insurance company CEO was shot outside of a hotel. I could go on.
In the UK there was an attempted murder when someone attacked a protestor burning a Koran, but luckily the UK authorities convicted the victim of the attack with "asking for it"[1] so justice was served.
[1] <a href="https://www.gbnews.com/news/london-muslim-man-spared-jail-turkish-consulate" rel="nofollow">https://www.gbnews.com/news/london-muslim-man-spared-jail-tu...
ozlikethewizard · · focus · HN ↗
The victims fine was overturned and the attacker was convincted, justice system working as intended: <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9v7wlj3pr2o" rel="nofollow">https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9v7wlj3pr2o
Hasan is still not British.
[deleted] · · focus · HN ↗
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throw10920 · · focus · HN ↗