In this episode of "Absurd Claim (Bald-Faced Lie) of the Week"...
During a meeting with President Donald Trump in Turnberry, Scotland, on Monday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer claimed — with a straight face, mind you — that the U.K. is "not censoring anyone." No, really.
Just one problem:
We're talking about a country that arrested and sentenced a 25-year-old man to 16 months in prison after posting a series of "offensive" tweets. His "crime"? "Inciting "racial hatred."
We're talking about a country in which a 51-year-old British army veteran was arrested in 2023 for silently praying for his aborted son for three minutes within a 150-meter “buffer” zone around an abortion clinic. The man's conviction, now on appeal, has cost him $13,000 in penalties and more than $100,000 in legal expenses.
We're talking about a country in which law enforcement officers made an average of more than 30 arrests per day in 2023 for online communications considered "offensive," totaling more than 12,000 arrests for the year.
I could add example after example after example. So please, Mr. Prime Minister.
Nevertheless, Starmer's dubious claim (bald-faced lie) was in response to a reporter's question about whether Trump had any concerns about the U.K. censoring Trump's media site, Truth Social (emphasis, mine):
We’re not censoring anyone. We’ve got some measures that are there to protect children, in particular from sites like suicide sites, we’ve had too many cases in the United Kingdom of young children taking their own lives and when you look through their social media, they’ve been accessing some sites which talk about suicide and encouraging, if you like, children down that road and that is what we want to stop. Nothing about censoring free speech. This country is proud [to have] free speech in this country, we’ve had it for a very long time and we’re very, very proud of it.
We will protect [free speech] forever, but at the same time, I personally feel very strongly that we should protect our young teenagers, and that’s what it usually is, from things like suicide sites and that’s not a free speech issue. I see that as a child protection issue.
Call that bolded line whatever you want — a bald-faced lie, a complete crock of crap, or a truckload of bull manure, or whatever, but here's the deal, Mr. Prime Minister: We have the receipts, several of which I included earlier. Oh, and nice try playing the "child protection" card.
Magnificent! GB News inform Trump on *LIVE TV* that Keir Starmer has new powers to censor his own social media platform, Truth Social.
— Lee Harris (@addicted2newz) July 28, 2025
Keir Starmer replies: "We are not censoring anyone"@beverleyturner then brilliantly calls him out again.
Brutal. Keir Starmer is finished. pic.twitter.com/QMCWPJ1eTm
Here's a bit more background:
The U.K. passed the Online Safety Act in 2023, which regulates what is defined as hate speech, harmful content and misinformation.
In response to riots that broke out in the summer of 2024, the U.K. implemented several digital speech laws that regulate speech.
The U.K. also threatened to arrest and extradite U.S. citizens who made any online statements that could allegedly cause violence, according to CBS Austin.
ALSO READ: UK's Starmer Defends His Country's Laws on Free Speech, Gaza Two-State Solution in Interview
While this article is about the ongoing threat to — and punishment of — free speech in the U.K., as opposed to the U.S., there's a universal, and often ominous, message here:
When a government defines and regulates "hate speech," that government gets to define "hate."
The problem, of course, is one government's (or American political party that starts with a "D") definition of "hate" or "encouraging hatred" is not necessarily the same as those of another country (political party). What could possibly go wrong?
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