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UK Man Jailed For 'Offensive Tweets'

Posted by timothy on from the hate-speech-join-the-crowd dept.

Motor writes "A UK judge has jailed a man for 56 days after he posted offensive comments on twitter about a footballer who had a heart attack during a game. He's also been thrown out of his university degree course weeks from graduating. His comments may have been offensive... but do they really justify a prison sentence and ruining his life?"

1 of 922 comments (clear)

  1. Summary is wrong again by kramerd · · Score: 5, Informative

    Liam Stacey was not arrested for offensive comments. He was found guilty of inciting racial hatred.

    He wasn't thrown out of university; he is suspended pending an investigation.

    The reality of freedom of speech (at least the US concept) is that it is not consequence free speech. While the article does not mention any actual harm committed through racial insensitivity, I can only assume that someone was threatened and that the threat was taken seriously through Liam's postings. If no actual harm was committed, society does not benefit by having someone go to prison.