Free speech, the constitutional right most of us Americans take for granted, is dying in the United Kingdom. Perhaps it never held the same station as it does in the United States, but it’s nonetheless shocking to see a Western nation suddenly resemble the likes of North Korea.

Videos across the internet depict British police officers arresting ordinary citizens for creating certain “unlawful” social media posts. That’s right. Social media posts, also known as “speech,” now make people criminally liable. According to an article from The New York Post, up to 30 people a day are being arrested for “speech crimes.” Chadwick Moore writes,

Maxie Allen, a radio producer in Hertfordshire, was on a Zoom call at home when he saw police standing over his shoulder from the camera view on his screen. Six officers came knocking — his partner Rosalind Levine, who answered the door, thought their disabled daughter had died — to haul the couple off over comments they posted in a private WhatsApp group for parents at their children’s school.

Reports like these seem almost too ghoulish to be true, but it’s a verified fact: citizens across the pond are being arrested in droves simply for breaking speech codes.

In August, the Crown Prosecution Service, which according to their X bio ” is responsible for criminal prosecutions in England & Wales,” released an eerie video warning citizens that posting “harmful” content could be met with legal repercussions. People jeered and derided the clip for miles in the comments.

Praying Silently is Off Limits, Too?

In 2022, a woman named Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was arrested for praying silently just outside of an English abortion clinic. The violation? According to the “Safe Access” law, passed in the U.K., people aren’t allowed to do anything within 200 meters of an abortion clinic that might “influence” someone’s decision to access the premises. Apparently standing in silence nearby fit the bill for the offense. She has since received a settlement for her wrongful arrest, but the trends aren’t promising. Vaughan-Spruce said it well in her statement regarding the case:

“Silent prayer is not a crime. Nobody should be arrested merely for the thoughts they have in their heads – yet this happened to me twice at the hands of the West Midlands Police, who explicitly told me that “prayer is an offence.”

“There is no place for Orwell’s ‘thought police’ in 21^st Century Britain, and thanks to legal support I received from ADF UK, I’m delighted that the settlement that I have received today acknowledges that. Yet despite this victory, I am deeply concerned that this violation could be repeated at the hands of other police forces.

“Our culture is shifting towards a clamp down on viewpoint diversity, with Christian thought and prayer increasingly under threat of censorship. A ‘buffer zone’ policy is set to be rolled out by the government imminently – the language of which is inherently unclear, and will likely lead to further violations against the freedom to pray, or peacefully converse or offer help near abortion facilities.”

Her worries are proving accurate as Great Britain continues to purge speech and expression it deems unlawful. Just last month, comedian Graham Linehan was arrested for social media posts criticizing the transgender movement.

Journalist Matt Taibbi reminds us that Europe isn’t alone in its Orwellian decline. The United States has also seen its fair share of online policing and censorship in recent years. The “laptop from hell” story, detailing the scandalous emails of Hunter Biden and published in The New York Post shortly before the 2020 presidential election, was effectively banned from Twitter (now X) and Facebook at the time. After purchasing Twitter, Elon Musk brought in Taibbi and former New York Times journalist Bari Weiss to investigate how extensive the censorship really was. Taibbi discusses his experience with the “Twitter Files” in an interview with UnHerd editor Freddie Sayers. The two men also talk about the rampant free speech issues plaguing Great Britain.

Free speech is the foundation of the United States social and political life for a reason. Without it, all the other rights get trampled, too. George Orwell and contemporary writers like Taibbi remind us that totalitarianism isn’t a bygone relic from past centuries; it’s constantly knocking at our own doors, often dressed up as “safety” or even “kindness” when really, it’s a monster ready to pounce.