{"id":13103,"date":"2025-08-15T10:08:03","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T17:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/?p=13103"},"modified":"2025-08-15T10:08:03","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T17:08:03","slug":"us-stands-up-to-great-britains-authoritarianism-censorship-and-speech-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/2025\/08\/15\/us-stands-up-to-great-britains-authoritarianism-censorship-and-speech-police\/","title":{"rendered":"US Stands up to Great Britain\u2019s Authoritarianism, Censorship, and Speech Police"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Of interest is our government condemning the UK, but they&#8217;ll use the same tactics here to erode our rights further than they have already. And notice the tie in with a former Google executive taking over Ofcom in the UK. Consequently, in the UK contrary voices should take to the darknet already and use anonymity to communicate. Though, probably only a matter of time before they make VPNs and Tor illegal. And with the UK like Canada, New Zealand, and Australia; you&#8217;re under the crown and you don&#8217;t really have rights, e.g. like the Charter of Rights in Canada can be set aside for the interests of the crown, of which the <a href=\"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/wp-admin\/post.php?post=4744&amp;action=edit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Freedom Truckers can attest<\/a>. And in Nova Scotia they just made it a <a href=\"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/2025\/08\/13\/climate-lockdown-nova-scotia-bans-citizens-from-going-into-the-woods-amid-fire-risk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">crime to go into the woods<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.naturalnews.com\/2025-08-15-us-stands-up-to-great-britains-authoritarianism.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.naturalnews.com\/2025-08-15-us-stands-up-to-great-britains-authoritarianism.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-ub-divider ub_divider ub-divider-orientation-horizontal\" id=\"ub_divider_d22474fb-963c-4162-adf8-88db2cdebb83\"><div class=\"ub_divider_wrapper\" style=\"position: relative; margin-bottom: 2px; width: 100%; height: 2px; \" data-divider-alignment=\"center\"><div class=\"ub_divider_line\" style=\"border-top: 2px solid #ccc; margin-top: 2px; \"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>By Lance D Johnson<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.naturalnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/91\/2025\/08\/truth_is_the_new_hate_speech.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Imagine a world where a silent prayer lands you in court, where a meme earns you a prison sentence, and where the government monitors your social media posts\u2014not for threats of violence, but for wrong-think. This isn\u2019t the plot of a dystopian novel; it\u2019s modern Britain, where the once-cherished principles of free expression are being dismantled brick by brick under the guise of \u201csafety\u201d and \u201cprotection.\u201d The United States State Department, in a <a href=\"https:\/\/reclaimthenet.org\/us-state-department-condemns-uks-censorship-laws\">scathing indictment of the UK\u2019s rapidly deteriorating free speech landscape<\/a>, has sounded the alarm: Britain is no longer a beacon of democratic values but a cautionary tale of how quickly liberty can erode when power-hungry officials decide what truths are permissible. The Online Safety Act, sold to the public as a shield for children, has instead become a sword wielded against dissenters, journalists, and even silent protesters. And if America doesn\u2019t take heed, the same forces of censorship will soon knock on our doors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The irony is bitter. The nation that gave the world the Magna Carta, that stood defiant against tyranny in two world wars, now arrests citizens for posting memes, jails mothers for social media comments, and threatens prayerful grandfathers with fines. This isn\u2019t just a slippery slope\u2014it\u2019s a free-fall into authoritarianism, disguised as progressive governance. The question isn\u2019t whether Britain has lost its way; it\u2019s whether the rest of the world will follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key points:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The US State Department\u2019s 2024 Human Rights Report explicitly condemns Britain\u2019s Online Safety Act, calling it a tool of government censorship that suppresses political and religious speech under the pretense of child protection.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lucy Connolly, a mother and former childcare giver, is serving a 2.5-year prison sentence for a single social media post\u2014her appeal rejected in July\u2014while Adam Smith-Connor, a British Army veteran, was fined \u00a39,000 for silently praying near an abortion clinic.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The UK government monitored and flagged \u201cconcerning narratives\u201d through a secretive Whitehall unit, threatening arrests to chill public debate, particularly after the Southport murders, where officials silenced discussions about the attacker\u2019s background.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ofcom, Britain\u2019s media regulator, now has sweeping powers to fine tech companies up to 10% of global revenue (or \u00a318 million) if they fail to censor \u201charmful\u201d content\u2014including political debates and criticism of government policies.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Online Safety Act criminalizes \u201cfalse communications\u201d with vague definitions, allowing prosecutors to target satire, memes, and dissenting opinions while exempting mainstream media\u2014creating a two-tiered system of free speech.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>US officials, including Vice President JD Vance, have privately met with persecuted UK activists, warning that Britain\u2019s crackdown on speech is a direct threat to American values and could embolden global censorship efforts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The EU\u2019s Digital Services Act and the UK\u2019s Online Safety Bill are part of a coordinated global push to police online speech, with former Big Tech executives now leading censorship bodies, raising conflicts of interest.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Encryption and privacy are under attack, as the law pressures platforms to weaken security in the name of \u201csafety,\u201d leaving users vulnerable to government surveillance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">From Magna Carta to memory holes: How Britain betrayed its legacy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There was a time when Britain stood as a bulwark against tyranny. The Magna Carta, signed in 1215, was one of history\u2019s first declarations that even kings were not above the law. Centuries later, British thinkers like John Locke and John Stuart Mill shaped the very foundations of free speech, arguing that the marketplace of ideas\u2014no matter how messy\u2014was essential to a functioning democracy. Yet today, the descendants of those same philosophers are being arrested for memes, jailed for prayers, and silenced for questioning official narratives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Online Safety Act, passed in 2023 and enforced in 2024, <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.reclaimthenet.org\/united-kingdom-2024-human-rights-report.pdf\">is the crown jewel of this authoritarian transformation<\/a>. Sold as a measure to protect children from online harms, the law instead grants Ofcom\u2014Britain\u2019s state media regulator\u2014unprecedented power to dictate what can and cannot be said online. Companies that fail to comply face fines of up to 10% of their global revenue\u2014a financial death sentence for any platform that resists. But the real targets aren\u2019t just corporations; they\u2019re ordinary citizens who dare to challenge the government\u2019s version of reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take Lucy Connolly, a 48-year-old mother and wife of a Conservative councillor. Her crime? Posting a single message on X (formerly Twitter) in the aftermath of the Southport murders, where three young girls were stabbed to death. The government, desperate to suppress discussions about the attacker\u2019s background, pounced. Connolly was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to 2.5 years in prison. Her appeal was rejected in July, ensuring she remains behind bars until late August. This isn\u2019t justice\u2014it\u2019s political persecution, a warning to others that dissent will be punished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then there\u2019s Adam Smith-Connor, a British Army veteran who was fined \u00a39,000 for the crime of silent prayer near an abortion clinic. No protest signs, no shouting\u2014just standing in quiet reflection. Yet under Britain\u2019s \u201cbuffer zone\u201d laws, even thought itself is now policed. His case drew international attention, with US Vice President JD Vance citing it in a speech in Munich as evidence of Britain\u2019s \u201calarming decline in free expression.\u201d In March, Smith-Connor met with US State Department officials, who confirmed what many already feared: Britain is systematically eroding religious and political freedoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Southport murders became a turning point. After the attack, Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson issued a chilling warning: anyone who \u201creposts, repeats, or amplifies\u201d messages deemed \u201cfalse or inciting hatred\u201d could face prosecution and extradition. The government even released a propaganda video urging citizens to \u201cThink before you post!\u201d\u2014a not-so-subtle threat that Big Brother is watching. Arrests followed, though some charges were later dropped, revealing a pattern of selective enforcement designed to intimidate the public into silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The censorship industrial complex: How governments and Big Tech collude to control speech<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Britain\u2019s descent into authoritarianism didn\u2019t happen in a vacuum. It\u2019s part of a <a href=\"https:\/\/reclaimthenet.org\/uk-age-verification-privacy-backlash\">global crackdown on free speech<\/a>, where governments and Big Tech oligarchs work hand in hand to define, monitor, and punish \u201cunacceptable\u201d opinions. The Online Safety Act is just one piece of a much larger puzzle\u2014a censorship industrial complex that spans continents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the European Union, the Digital Services Act (DSA) imposes similar restrictions, forcing platforms to remove \u201cmisinformation\u201d or face massive fines. The law explicitly targets \u201cdivisive material\u201d, including criticism of COVID-19 policies and skepticism of official narratives. Meanwhile, the UK\u2019s Online Safety Bill goes even further, criminalizing \u201cfalse communications\u201d with prison sentences of up to 51 weeks. The problem? No clear definitions of what constitutes \u201cfalse,\u201d \u201charmful,\u201d or \u201creasonable excuse.\u201d In practice, this means prosecutors and algorithms\u2014not juries\u2014decide what\u2019s allowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Worse still, the enforcers of these laws are often former Big Tech insiders. The UK\u2019s Office of Communications (Ofcom) is now led by Gill Whitehead, a former Google executive. Other top regulators have ties to Meta and Amazon, creating a revolving door between Silicon Valley and the censorship state. This isn\u2019t just regulatory capture\u2014it\u2019s a hostile takeover of free speech by the same corporations that profit from <a href=\"http:\/\/censorship.news\">controlling information<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The US State Department\u2019s report highlights another disturbing trend: the weaponization of \u201chate speech\u201d laws to target political opponents. In Britain, pro-life activists, immigration critics, and COVID-19 skeptics have all been arrested, fined, or imprisoned for peaceful expression. The selective enforcement is glaring\u2014while anti-Semitic threats (rightfully condemned) are met with outrage, a meme about knife crime can land you in jail for eight weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And let\u2019s not forget the encryption kill switch. The Online Safety Act includes provisions that pressure tech companies to weaken encryption, ostensibly to catch \u201charmful\u201d content. But as digital rights experts warn, this destroys user privacy, making everyone vulnerable to government surveillance. If Britain can monitor private messages for \u201cwrongthink,\u201d what\u2019s to stop other nations\u2014or even the US\u2014from doing the same?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">America\u2019s moment of reckoning: Will we follow Britain\u2019s path or resist the censorship tide?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The US State Department\u2019s report isn\u2019t just a condemnation of Britain\u2014it\u2019s a warning to America. The same censorship mechanisms being deployed in the UK are already taking root here. The Biden administration has been accused of colluding with social media platforms to suppress dissent, particularly on COVID-19 policies and election integrity. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has proposed new digital oversight bureaus, and Congress has floated bills that would gut Section 230\u2014the law that protects free speech online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>If Britain\u2019s Online Safety Act is any indication, America could be next. The playbook is the same:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Pass laws under the guise of \u201csafety.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Empower regulators to define \u201charmful\u201d speech.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fine and intimidate platforms into compliance.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Arrest and prosecute dissenters to set an example.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The only thing standing in the way is public resistance. The US State Department\u2019s strong stance\u2014delayed and strengthened under Trump-appointed officials\u2014shows that some in Washington still understand the stakes. But will Congress, the courts, and the American people push back before it\u2019s too late?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fight for free speech is the fight for democracy itself. Britain\u2019s authoritarian turn didn\u2019t happen overnight\u2014it was the result of years of complacency, of trusting governments and corporations to define the boundaries of acceptable thought. Now, prayer is a crime, memes are \u201chate speech\u201d, and truth is whatever the state says it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>America must learn from Britain\u2019s mistakes. We must reject censorship in all its forms, whether it comes from London, Brussels, or Washington. The first casualty of tyranny is always the truth. The question is: Will we let it die without a fight?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sources include:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/reclaimthenet.org\/us-state-department-condemns-uks-censorship-laws\">ReclaimtheNet.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.reclaimthenet.org\/united-kingdom-2024-human-rights-report.pdf\">Docs.ReclaimtheNet.org<\/a>&nbsp;[PDF]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/reclaimthenet.org\/uk-age-verification-privacy-backlash\">ReclaimtheNet.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Of interest is our government condemning the UK, but they&#8217;ll use the same tactics here to erode our rights further than they have already. And notice the tie in with a former Google executive taking over Ofcom in the UK. Consequently, in the UK contrary voices should take to the darknet already and use anonymity [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech","category-world"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13103"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13105,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13103\/revisions\/13105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}