Digital repression in the UK: Alarming rise in 'thought crime' arrests and convictions

During the pandemic, we all witnessed how Western democracies imposed health restrictions that curtailed many of our fundamental freedoms: unnecessary confinements, curfews, abuse of power by officials with no legitimate authority, social distancing, deaths of loved ones without the chance for proper goodbyes, physical and psychological coercion during the controversial vaccination campaigns, and extrajudicial limitations on information circulating on social media. After this shock therapy, the final blow was the sense that a large part of society found itself subordinated to measures no one had voted for, yet which controlled nearly every aspect of our daily lives.

Subjugated by this health and ideological machinery, and also the imposition of a "new normal," bureaucrats and mainstream media appeared to be rewriting history, aligning it with the propaganda of a global order—similar to Winston Smith’s role in George Orwell’s 1984.

After the pandemic, and as a consequence of this authoritarian dystopia, in which the society surveils itself, the United Kingdom has seen nearly a doubling of arrests and convictions for alleged "thought crimes" on social media.

The Online Safety Act: an overreach that includes new online criminal offenses

In October 2023, the U.K. enacted the Online Safesty Act (OSA), a law originally designed to protect minors by regulating online content.

The law applies to a range of online services, including search engines, social networks, chat platforms, forums, games, and online dating sites. An independent body, Ofcom, has also been established to rigorously oversee a risk management framework.

The law requires online service providers to facilitate the reporting of explicit content and introduces new criminal offenses, including fake communications, threats, sending or displaying flashing images ("epilepsy trolling"), sending obscene images ("cyberflashing"), and sharing intimate images online.

Initially, violations of the OSA carry significant financial consequences for telecommunications companies, including fines of $23 million or 10% of their annual global revenues.

Additionally, Ofcom has a range of enforcement tools, including the authority to conduct investigations and make enforcement decisions. In some cases, company executives may face criminal liability for failing to comply with Ofcom’s requests for information.

The OSA's insistence that platforms seek out and remove content deemed problematic, or else face Ofcom fines and sanctions, is a serious threat to freedom of speech.

A new Media Law was also created in 2024, which has expanded its scope to regulate streaming services.

The number of arrests is alarming

Criminal liabilities for "thought crimes" are not only directed at CEOs of telecommunications companies or online service providers, but in many cases, they also target private citizens.

According to The Times, police make more than 30 arrests a day due to "offensive posts" on social media, targeting individuals including the CEOs of telecommunications companies and online service providers.

Today, thousands of arrests are made in the United Kingdom for posts that cause "discomfort," "inconvenience," or "anxiety" over the internet, phone, or email, according to British media reports.

Custody data obtained by The Times show that police make around 12,000 arrests annually, not only under the OSA, but also by applying section 127 of the Communications Act 2003, and Section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988.

These laws make it illegal to cause distress by sending "grossly offensive" messages or sharing content that is "indecent, obscene, or threatening" on an electronic communications network.

According to data obtained by the British newspaper, in 2023, officers from 37 police forces made approximately 12,183 arrests, marking an almost 58% increase compared to pre-pandemic levels, when authorities recorded 7,734 arrests in 2019.

Unusual cases of arrests for 'malicious communication'

Some cases of arrests and convictions for alleged "thought crimes" have shocked public opinion and raised alarm about the digital repression taking place in the U.K.

One of the most recent cases dates back to January, when Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine, a couple from Borehamwood, were arrested by Hertfordshire police and held in a cell for 8 hours after a dispute with their daughter's school.

According to The Times, the couple was arrested at their home, in front of their three-year-old girl, following a series of e-mails sent to one of their daughters' school, regarding the hiring of a new principal.

The home was raided, and the family was questioned for alleged harassment, malicious communication, and suspicion of causing a nuisance on school property.

The problems began in May 2024, when the family raised concerns about the hiring process for a new principal at Cowley Hill Elementary School.

Following the email, the school board president sent a letter to parents warning them about "inflammatory" comments on social media. According to the Jewish Chronicle, the letter sent to the family stated that any behavior causing "discord" within the school community would not be tolerated.

The Allen family's alleged crime was complaining about this letter in a private WhatsApp group.

Following the exchange of messages, the couple was banned from the school premises, and the institution sought police advice, deeming the volume of communications to be "disruptive to staff."

After the unsettling arrest and five weeks of investigation, the police concluded that the case was closed.

Another case that has drawn attention is that of Lucy Connolly, mother of a family and wife of a conservative councillor, who was sentenced to 31 months in jail for "distribution of material with the intent to incite racial hatred." 

After a young man of Rwandan origin murdered three girls during a dance class in Southport, north of Liverpool, in July 2024, Connolly posted a message on X calling for "mass deportations now" and for "hotels" housing illegal immigrants to be "set on fire."

In the same message the woman said she felt "sick to think what these families have to endure." after losing their daughters in such an atrocious way.

During the sentencing, in an unusual turn of events, Connolly was informed of the number of interactions her post had received: "Your message was widely read: it was viewed 310,000 times, with 940 retweets, 58 quotes and 113 favorites."

She was also told : "As everyone knows, some people took advantage of the tragedy to sow division and hatred, often through social networks, causing cities to be disfigured by racist and senseless violence."

The "racist" and "senseless violence" referenced in Connolly's ruling refers to the protests that took place in the summer of 2024 in the United Kingdom, sparked by the murder of the three Southport girls.

During the "Enough is Enough" protests, not only were demonstrators arrested on the streets, but also individuals who were charged and sentenced to up to 38 months in prison for "inciting hatred" on social media, according to a BBC report.

In the wake of this, Prime Minister Keir Starmer declared that social networks "have a responsibility" to address misinformation.

Politicians and celebrities condemn digital repression in the United Kingdom

At the Munich Security Conference, JD Vance condemned the violations of freedom of expression in Europe, but especially in the United Kingdom.

Likewise, during Keir Starmer's visit to Washington, the vice president of the United States said that despite the strong relationship with the U.K., he knows that there are "violations of free speech" that not only affect the British. He emphasized that while what happens in the U.K. is their concern, it "also affects American companies and by extension American citizens."

On the other hand, Joe Rogan also weighed in, stating during one of his podcast episodes that what the U.K. was doing amounted to "terrible government overreach." 

Speaking to Bob Gymlan, Rogan explained that "people talk about Soviet Russia, how bad Russia is in terms of cracking down on thought police and cracking down on bad tweets. There's something like 4,000 people who have been arrested in England for thought crimes where they've said things online that people find to be a hateful thing or a problematic thing."

"The fact that they are comfortable with finding people who've said something they disagree with and putting them in a f--ing cage in England in 2024 is really wild," Rogan concluded.

If we go back five years and think about the narrative that was imposed on us during the pandemic, it is very dangerous for a state regulator to demand the repression of certain forms of online expression.

The mismanagement of these regulations only opens the door to a strong authoritarianism and the loss of common sense.