[hnlmorg]

Those “mean posts” were people organising violent riots that cost the country millions and targeted small business owners just for being ethnic minorities.

People shouldn’t get a free pass on organising violence and riots just because they did it online.

Edit: I don’t normally comment on the peer moderation that happens on HN but wow there are a lot of people online today that believe free speech trumps all other laws.

Seems it’s ok to destroy people’s property just so long as you arrange to do it online. /s

Perhaps someone can explain why they think this way?

[roenxi]

I'm a little hesitant to comment because I haven't been able to dig up the actual charges, but there is a history of people in the UK being charged and arrested for mean posts. A few storys jumped out at me, eg the Kelly case did seem at the time to be a betrayal of the liberal tradition assuming the BBCs reporting is accurate - realistically people should be able to gratuitously insult people who contributed of the largest imperial project in history as military officers. For all that it was in terrible taste.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-60930670

[hnlmorg]

It’s hard to comment on that case without knowing what was Tweeted but on the surface of it, I do agree with you. However he wasn’t sent to jail and thus it wasn’t the incident the GP described.

What the GP was referring to was those jailed for inciting violence and hatred during the wave of riots the UK suffered last month.

Their actions were a lot worse and had real world, tangible, effects on people and their property. It wasn’t just them sharing a meme (which is the popular trope some on HN describe the event as).

It’s worth noting that people in America get arrested for similar actions. In another comment I drew parallels to the Capitol riots.

The crux of the reason people get put in jail “for posting mean things” is because they’ve broken other, much worse laws in the process.

[vasco]

> What the GP was referring to was those jailed for inciting violence and hatred during the wave of riots the UK suffered last month.

My friend, I didn't refer to that at all, there's no need to lie. You were referring to those cases, not me.

[hnlmorg]

Then perhaps you can share what other recent cases there have been of people jailed for posting stuff online.

And please don’t call me a liar. You said it was recent, and they were jailed. I don’t know of anything else besides the incidents I’ve covered. Worst case is I’m misinformed. And if that’s the case then I’m sorry. But I assure you that I’m not a liar.

[even_639765]

UK law is far stricter than you might suppose.

https://fee.org/articles/uk-man-arrested-for-malicious-commu...

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/arrests-for-offensive-...

[hnlmorg]

Oh I’m well aware of how strict the uk is. However none of those articles you shared are about people getting jail time (most of those cases were likely dropped in fact) and they certainly weren’t recent.

I’m not making generalisations here. The OP made a very specific statement about people being jailed recently for posting online and I’m saying they’ve completely missed the truth behind those actual arrests.

Just as all the subsequent posts yourself and others have made are glossing over the very specific claims the OP made.

I’m not going to argue that I think the UK gets things right with its approach to online content. But the OPs specific claim of people being arrested is missing the bigger story about why they got arrested. And that’s what I’m specifically calling FUD on — not the UKs wider policy. The uk is a shit show for a great many reasons (as a UK citizen I’m not blind to this at all). But that doesn’t mean we should exaggerate the truth for the sake of gaining a little extra karma on HN.

The simple fact is the reason for the recent arrests and jail time is for similar reasons people have been arrested and jailed for online content in the US (yes, it’s happened there too). This isn’t a problem with free speech, it’s actual criminals causing actual physical damage and thus who have broken other laws besides just communicating about it online. Hence my comparison to the Capitol riots.

[vasco]

Well you said I said something I didn't, I don't have to call it a lie, I can call it Fernando, but you still did it.