[sd9]

Are the sibling comments astroturfed? This seems like such a bizarre thing to be talking about in relation to an Anthropic model release. As someone from the UK, I don't feel like I'm living in an authoritarian country. And yet most of the sibling comments are insinuating that I am. Weird.

[killerstorm]

I'm sure there are people in Russia, China, ... who don't feel like they're living in an authoritarian country.

[ebbi]

It's true (from a perception perspective):

China soars in democratic perception ranking as US, Israel plummet: Poll

https://thecradle.co/articles/china-soars-in-democratic-perc...

[nonethewiser]

Maybe the rankings arent accurate.

[ebbi]

It's a poll.

[tene80i]

If you think Britain and Russia or China are equivalent in terms of government overreach, you need to find new sources of information.

[nonethewiser]

> If you think Britain and Russia or China are equivalent in terms of government overreach, you need to find new sources of information.

Uh... you are making his point. People from way more authoritarian countries don't necessarily feel like they are living in an authoritarian country. Therefore whether or not it "feels" like you are living in one isn't a reliable measure.

[tene80i]

Trivially true I suppose, but it doesn’t make my point irrelevant - do you think Britain is equivalent to China and Russia? If everyone does but us then yes my goodness they’ve done a good job controlling us, but that seems far fetched.

[HDThoreaun]

HN is extremely pro free speech and the UK has recently decided to engage in censorship. Part of the issue users here reckon with is the recency. Unlike many authoritarian countries that seem hopeless with regards to free speech the UKs censorship is a recent development that many think can still be undone through political action. Similar to takes on why Israel is being protested when places like sudan arent.

[Flere-Imsaho]

Indeed: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce83pj1ggmeo

In the uk you can very much be imprisoned for "hate speech", which in my view is a form of censorship.

[sd9]

This has passed me by - can you give me some specific examples?

I personally don't feel limited in my speech, but I'm willing to accept that I may be wrong

Nobody I know in real life is talking about censorship or free speech in the UK

[adammarples]

My dear friend, please start with the online safety act, and continue with the recent developments regarding age verification and/or device scanning on all operating systems to check for nudity. No, nobody is talking about it here, but we should be.

[JacobAsmuth]

"Nobody I know is talking about censorship" is a certified HN banger.

[sd9]

I don't know, I would expect it to come up in the pub or something if people were concerned about it, it's not like we have the thought police here

[ebbi]

Sounds like the people around you don't care about the things that is actually eroding free speech.

Read about Dr Aladwan - an NHS doctor - who has barred from practising because of her comments on Israel. Read the common articles about her (BBC etc), and then go actually read her tweets. Common BS of conflating criticism of a government (Israel) with antisemitism.

Also, this article may be of interest:

China soars in democratic perception ranking as US, Israel plummet: Poll

https://thecradle.co/articles/china-soars-in-democratic-perc...

[ccppurcell]

Hey man, fellow Brit here. The American view on certain aspects of British life is insane. I've lived in not one but two places that have been called Muslim no-go zones in American media. My main memory of living near the east London mosque is an elderly Muslim trying to offer my his seat on the bus (I was on crutches) while two drunk gammons looked on gormlessly.

On the other hand, it is quite alarming that I can no longer say I support all non violent protests against the genocide in Palestine because that would include the group Palestine Action. It's amazing that supporting them openly is essentially equivalent to supporting Al Qaeda.

[HDThoreaun]

The UK has a censorship bureau, ofcom. The example that comes up most here is 4chan, which the UK is currently trying to ban because they refuse to do age verification. If you read the threads here you will see other stories. One that sticks out to me is someone who was talking about their struggles running a forum about depression. They live in canada and were contacted by ofcom demanding the forum add age verification, cant totally remember the reason but it was something about kids being able to access talk about depression. Ofcom said that if he doesnt add age verification to his forum he will be arrested if he ever enters the UK. He even blocked uk IPs but they said that wasnt enough. We can quibble about whether age verification is a form of censorship, I think it clearly is, if only because it is a large regulatory hurdle that stops people from hosting forums because its too much regulatory work.

The UK also has a very broad definition of hate speech that many users here detest.

[sd9]

Makes sense, thank you. I am opposed to the age verification laws that we have introduced recently.

[nonethewiser]

> Nobody I know in real life is talking about censorship or free speech in the UK

Yeah because free speech has never really been a core value in the UK

[tene80i]

They’re talking about British hate speech laws. They think other countries have universal free speech and they absolutely do not, but for some reason they think Britain goes too far. Although “think” is probably too generous - they’re parroting talking points.

[tene80i]

The downvoters are welcome to offer actual counterarguments.

[lbrito]

>HN is extremely pro free speech

It is most definitively not, at least in the 10ish year's I've lurked.

It is "pro free speech" in the sense Elon Musk is a "free speech absolutist": in pretty much the diametrically opposed meaning of the phrase.

[flagged357733]

> HN is extremely pro free speech

They like to think so. But if someone makes a comment that goes against the groupthink here, they will get downvoted, flagged, and shadow-banned.

[Macha]

The UK has very recently[1] announced a new push for client side scanning by messaging providers which is both very likely to be unpopular and known here, so once one person cracks the joke, others are going to want to comment. Don’t think that requires astroturfing.

[1]: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jun/08/starmer-t...

[r721]

It's just people who use "For You" algorithm on X.

[nonethewiser]

Neither do people living in China