Why Britain Arrests 30 People Every Day For Speech

Why Britain Arrests 30 People Every Day For Speech

 Steve Watson

In this engaging Triggernometry interview, Lord Toby Young, founder of the Free Speech Union, discusses the UK’s Online Safety Act and its implications for free speech.

He traces the Act’s origins to a moral panic over children’s exposure to harmful online content like self-harm sites and pornography, initially introduced under Theresa May’s government and expanded under Boris Johnson

Young criticizes it as overly broad, leading to excessive content removal by platforms fearing massive fines or jail time for executives. He highlights how it has resulted in age-gating innocuous material, such as speeches on grooming gangs or historical blog posts, under the guise of child protection, while failing to include robust free speech safeguards.

Young argues this creates a chilling effect, with companies over-censoring to comply, and expresses concern that the Labour government, under figures like Peter Kyle, will strengthen it further rather than repeal it.

Young warns of broader threats to free expression, including over 30 daily arrests for speech offenses and a quarter-million non-crime hate incidents recorded in recent years, often for online posts challenging government narratives on immigration or gender issues.

He discusses risks to anonymity and encrypted apps like WhatsApp, potential blasphemy law revivals via anti-Islamophobia measures, and new employment laws that could ban “banter” in workplaces to prevent perceived harassment.

Emphasizing the Free Speech Union’s role in defending cases—primarily gender-critical women—he notes a surge in membership since Labour’s election, underscoring growing public unease.

Overall, Young portrays the UK as sliding toward authoritarian censorship, prioritizing “safety” over liberty and stifling open debate.