The Loss of Freedom in the UK

In that place that used to be Great Britain. Why we must repeal our hate-speech laws - spiked

A UK politician is aware of the problem, which believe it or not, is actually much worse in the UK than on this side of the pond. Not that it will change.

spiked: What is the core problem with hate-speech laws in the UK?

Andrew Bridgen: They are an infringement on free speech. Right now, something is classed as a hate crime if it offends someone else, or anyone thinks someone else could be offended by it. If something you say meets those criteria, you are potentially liable to have a visit from the police and have a hate crime registered.

And of course it isn't just the government, it is the social media monopolies, and the assholes at places like AWS that feel they can do anything to anyone who stands in their way. Which applies to the US as much as the UK.

Bridgen: One of the problems is that technology has moved forward at such a pace that it is unregulated and misunderstood by legislators. That vacuum has given tech companies huge power. There is the situation with Parler, which was taken offline by Amazon, for example. That is too much power.

The market is not really working when players have that sort of power. I’m a free-market capitalist. But the market has to be regulated, because the aim of every corporation in whatever sphere it operates in is to control the marketplace, either through putting competition out of business or through acquisition. But when you get monopolies, there is no market.

Hat tip to Samizdata, who you should be reading, at least on occasion.