- Joined
- Mar 11, 2013
- Messages
- 13,690
- Points
- 113
JD Vance described the Online Safety Act as a ‘backslide away from conscience rights’ - REUTERS/Leah Millis
Hundreds of people have been charged with online “speech crimes” amid claims from the Trump administration that civil liberties are under threat in Britain.
Almost 300 people have been charged with spreading illegal “fake news” or sending “threatening communications” since the Online Safety Act came into force in 2023. Dozens have received convictions under the act.
Multiple people were charged under the law following last summer’s rioting in the wake of the Southport stabbings. The riots also led to what are believed to have been among the first convictions under the new rules.
Data from the Crown Prosecution Service, disclosed to The Telegraph under a Freedom of Information request, shows that 292 people have been charged with communications offences since the law came into effect in October 2023.
This includes 23 people who were charged with sending a false communication and hundreds more for sending a threatening communication. So far, 67 people have been convicted under the new rules.
The Online Safety Act, which was passed into law under Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government, requires technology giants to tackle dangerous online posts and videos or risk billions of pounds in fines.
It also created a number of new criminal offences. These include cyberflashing, sharing “revenge porn” and sending illegal false communications, more commonly referred to as a “fake news” offence.
This offence banned disinformation that could cause “non-trivial psychological or physical harm”. However, the provision has prompted concerns among free speech advocates, who warned it represented a new form of “speech crime”.
The Southport riots are believed to have led to the first convictions under the Online Safety Act - Owen Humphreys/PA Wire
Lord Toby Young, the Conservative peer and founder of the Free Speech Union, said: “The number of people who’ve been charged with this offence is deeply concerning. The problem with trying to criminalise ‘disinformation’ is that it empowers the state to decide what is and isn’t true.”
Lord Young added that the false communications offence was the latest in a number of “speech crimes” created by successive governments. He said: “Causing someone psychological distress should not be a criminal offence.”
After the Southport stabbings, several people were questioned by police over false communications for spreading claims the attacker was a Muslim immigrant. In one instance, a man pleaded guilty to the offence for a livestreamed video on TikTok where he falsely claimed he was “running for his life” from rioters in Derby.
