Posted on 04/16/2025 5:58:55 AM PDT by Angelino97
The police are making more than 30 arrests a day over offensive posts on social media and other platforms.
Thousands of people are being detained and questioned for sending messages that cause “annoyance”, “inconvenience” or “anxiety” to others via the internet, telephone or mail.
Custody data obtained by The Times shows that officers are making about 12,000 arrests a year under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 and section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988.
The acts make it illegal to cause distress by sending “grossly offensive” messages or sharing content of an “indecent, obscene or menacing character” on an electronic communications network.
Officers from 37 police forces made 12,183 arrests in 2023, the equivalent of about 33 per day. This marks an almost 58 per cent rise in arrests since before the pandemic. In 2019, forces logged 7,734 detentions.
The statistics have provoked criticism from civil liberties groups that the authorities are over-policing the internet and threatening free speech using “vague” communications laws.
As director of public prosecutions, Sir Keir Starmer issued Crown Prosecution Service guidance stating that offensive social media messages should only lead to prosecution in “extreme circumstances”.
Analysis of government data shows that the number of convictions and sentencings for communications offences has dramatically decreased over the past decade.
According to Ministry of Justice figures, there were 1,119 sentencings for Section 127 and Section 1 offences in 2023, down by almost half since 2015 when 1,995 people were found guilty of the crimes.
(Excerpt) Read more at thetimes.com ...
Hey. That’s a Hell of a lot easier than investigating burglaries and robberies (which have a pitifully low conviction rate in the UK). The police can just sit in their offices surfing the internet.
Crack that whip! Empty their wallets!
Carry on, and rip the "offender" public off.
Sure beats going after dangerous criminals, right Bobby?
The USA Wouldn’t have enough jail
space if that was done here. jmo
Quoting the Bible is “grossly offensive” to many.
History in the making!
We’re witnessing the end of the disUnited Kingdom!
Goodbye fish and chips, brown ale, bubble and squeak.
Hello Halel.
How many child “groomers” do they arrest per day?
I guess the days of “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me” are behind us.
And the US can not save them from their fate this time, except by example.
Grow a backbone you commie wankers!
> Thousands of people are being detained and questioned for sending messages that cause “annoyance”, “inconvenience” or “anxiety” to others… <
Well, that’s about as vague as you can get. And of course, that’s the whole idea.
So I ask this question again. I know the British monarch reigns, but does not rule. However, if the monarch does not speak up against this sort of fascism, what good is the monarch?
The whole UK has gone crazy. There’s a video of a noisy pro-Palestinian parade in London. A Jewish guy (wearing a Jewish skullcap) happened to be standing on a sidewalk.
The police surrounded the Jewish guy, and told him to move along as his presence might offend the protesters.
Do they do this to foreign tourists too? If so, another reason to avoid the United Kingdom.
And this is how the great British Empire dies. Censorship with any name is still censorship.
I’m surprised the arrested don’t pay a visit to the complainants. As long as you are going to jail, might as well make it worth it. Maybe in the future, complaining will cease when there is a price to pay.
And Tommy Robinson’s appeal was just denied.
1. ‘The acts make it illegal to cause distress by sending “grossly offensive” messages or sharing content of an “indecent, obscene or menacing character” on an electronic communications network.’
2. ‘detained and questioned for sending messages that cause “annoyance”, “inconvenience” or “anxiety” to others via the internet, telephone or mail.’
The standard set by the law in “1” above, is not met by the utterly subjective conduct cited in “2” above. Does the UK have no method for challenging the wrongful application of laws? The Sheeple of the UK have allowed totalitarianism to destroy liberty. Doesn’t this situation annoy or inconvenience the public? It certainly makes me anxious — the gestapo had better charge the authors for publishing these facts.
I’d like to hire Beekeeper to stop and destroy the spam.
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