Speech

Even though the US got the basis of its common law from England it is notable that England does not have First Amendment protecting free speech. In England over 3,000 people are arrested each year for things they publish on social media. In Russia, the former Soviet Union that number is 400 even though Russian has almost three times the population of England. While this is disturbing it is not alarming unless it happens to you. An arrest could mean they come to your home and take you away in cuffs. It could mean the loss of your job or even your children. The penalty is up to two years in prison. The effect of this is to make people afraid to state their personal beliefs. One example of an offense in England is"false information” with the intention of “causing distress or anxiety” Say something that hurts someone's feelings and you may cause distress. This makes it difficult to determine in advance what is and what isn't a crime. This always leads to the question who determines what is speech that causes distress and in England the arbiter is the government. The American people by and large do not want the government to determine what they can say. In certain areas the majority does agree, things like publishing child porn. In recent years people have been banned from the media for what is being called misinformation and it is the private companies known as social media that make the determination. The problem is that the government was putting pressure on some media to ban certain people or speech and this is illegal. Some see this as a step toward what is happening in England.