U.K. Police Arrested 62,199 People Over Online Speech in 5 Years

(Reclaim The Net)—Britain’s police arrested at least 62,199 people over five years under laws governing what people say online or over the phone.That’s a busy period for the written word. And the number of those charged over the same period is 18,510, while 12,292 people were convicted.The Big Brother Watch report, Britain’s Free Speech Problem: How Growing Restrictions Are Stifling Speech Online and Offline, covers the period between January 1, 2021, and December 31, 2025.The laws are Section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988, Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003, and Section 179 of the Online Safety Act...