I’m lucky to be an American, where there is a 1st Amendment that protects free speech. And, unlike some other parts of the Constitution, the courts have done a decent job of protecting that right.
The people of the United Kingdom are not so fortunate, as demonstrated by the fact that a British comedian felt a need to make these remarks back in 2012.
Sadly, Rowan Atkinson’s efforts to promote free speech seem to have fallen on deaf ears.
The British government still has a nasty habit of arresting – and even imprisoning – residents for what they say or what they write.
Some examples are absurd, as Mr. Atkinson discussed. Others involve genuinely hateful comments.
But Atkinson was correct to observe that the best way to respond to bad speech is to counter with more speech.
Unfortunately, that’s not happening. In fact, the British government apparently wants to export totalitarianism.
In a report for Fox News, Alexander Hall reveals that British cops think they have the right to prosecute American citizens for exercising their 1st Amendment rights. Here are some excerpts.
London’s Metropolitan Police chief warned that officials will not only be cracking down on British citizens for commentary on the riots in the U.K., but on American citizens as well. “We will throw the full force of the law at people. And whether you’re in this country committing crimes on the streets or committing crimes from further afield online, we will come after you,” Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told Sky News. …One key aspect that makes this apparent crackdown on social media particularly shocking to critics is that the British government is threatening to extradite American citizens from the U.S. to be jailed in the U.K. for violating their rules about political speech… Elon Musk..responded to a video of someone allegedly arrested for offensive online comments with a question, “Is this Britain or the Soviet Union?”
Speaking of Elon Musk, a columnist for the U.K.-based Guardian wants him to be on trial.
I’m not joking. Here are some excerpts from a column by Jonathan Freedland.
…the UK authorities…need to go after Elon Musk. …the core of the problem is…X (previously Twitter). …Let’s remind ourselves who brought Robinson and a whole slew of far-right agitators back in from the cold, thereby putting X out of step with the likes of YouTube and Facebook. It was Musk, of course. …But Musk has not just ushered in the super-sharers of the far right: he is one himself. …What’s the answer to this problem? Ideally, all politicians, journalists and influencers would defect en masse from X and use somewhere else as the global exchange for instant news and opinion. …I like the idea of fines for social-media companies…better to fine the directors of those companies, hitting them in their own pockets. …given that this is a global problem, it will require a global solution… If 2025 sees Starmer sit down with a President Kamala Harris, this should be one of the first items on the agenda.
Needless to say, it would not be a good idea to have a couple of politicians making decisions about allowable types of speech.
Fortunately, our Supreme Court surely would squash any attempt to undermine the Bill of Rights.
But I want to focus on a different legal point. Let’s imagine that some British bureaucrat, such as Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley (cited above in the Fox News report), decides that Elon Musk should be arrested.
Despite my personal history of law-breaking in the United Kingdom, I’m not familiar with that country’s legal system. But I imagine Commission Rowley would obtain some sort of arrest order and then put in a request that the United States capture Musk and put him on a plane to London.
I suspect, though, that Musk would be safe. There’s a principle in cross-border law enforcement known as “dual criminality.” As I wrote a couple of years ago, this ” is the idea that governments only help each other enforce laws where there is mutual agreement about what’s legal and illegal.”
And since free speech isn’t illegal in the United States, we presumably (at least I hope!) would tell Commissioner Rowley to go jump in a lake.
Dan Mitchell is co-founder of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity and Chairman of the Board. He is an expert in international tax competition and supply-side tax policy.
