Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Thursday that Britain "fiercely" protects free speech, but when it was used to incite real harm to children and vulnerable people there was a limit.
"Free speech is one of the founding values of the United Kingdom, and we protect it jealously and fiercely and always will," Starmer told reporters as he stood alongside U.S. President Donald Trump.
"I draw a limit between free speech and the speech of those that want to peddle pedophilia and suicide (on) social media to children," he said.
"Therefore I'm all for free speech, but I'm also for protecting children from things that will harm them."
Britain's new Online Safety Law requires social media companies to remove illegal content on their platforms.
Encouraging self-harm, for example, was made a criminal offence so it was covered by the law.
An attempt by the previous government to ban content that was deemed to "harmful but legal" was abandoned because it risked curbing free speech.
However, police action over social media posts, such as the arrest of Irish comedian Graham Linehan for publishing comments about transgender issues on X earlier this month, had raised questions about how existing laws should apply online.
The police defended Linehan's arrest, but said its officers were in an "impossible position" arbitrating between free speech and criminal content.
Residents in Syria’s Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli have stepped up volunteer patrols amid growing pressure from the country’s Islamist-led gov...
Sanctions are a long-used tool designed as an alternative to military force and with the objective of changing governments’ behaviour, but they also...
Azerbaijan’s participation in the United States-backed Board of Peace reflects a clear calculation of national interest, according to Chingiz Mammad...
Millions of people in Britain are struggling to afford basic necessities, with a new report warning that the number living in the deepest levels of po...
A clock in a Tel Aviv square that became a rallying point for Israelis demanding the release of hostages taken during the October 2023 Hamas attack wa...
Residents in Syria’s Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli have stepped up volunteer patrols amid growing pressure from the country’s Islamist-led government, expressing deep mistrust of Damascus despite a fragile U.S.-backed ceasefire.
Sanctions are a long-used tool designed as an alternative to military force and with the objective of changing governments’ behaviour, but they also end up hurting civilian citizens.
Azerbaijan’s participation in the United States-backed Board of Peace reflects a clear calculation of national interest, according to Chingiz Mammadov, Research Alumni of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Woodrow Wilson International Center.
Turkish defence firm Aselsan announced on Monday that it had signed a deal with the NATO alliance, of which Türkiye is a longstanding member, for the supply of “Identification of Friend or Foe” (IFF) interrogator systems for use with Man-Portable Air Defense Systems, or MANPADS.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has activated the state’s National Guard following the fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis, an incident that has triggered protests and intensified tensions between state and federal authorities.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has strongly rejected a U.S. magazine report on the death toll during January unrest. Nationwide protests erupted in response to soaring inflation and a national currency crisis.
A mosaic portrait of Pope Leo XIV was illuminated on Sunday at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, continuing a centuries-old Vatican tradition marking the election of a new pope.
The death toll from nationwide protests in Iran has climbed to 6,126, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, often viewed as a bellwether for the complex diplomatic currents between the Kremlin and the West, has issued a startling prediction regarding the endgame of the war in Ukraine.
A federal judge in Minnesota has ordered Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd M. Lyons to appear in court on Friday and explain why he should not be held in contempt for failing to comply with multiple court orders, officials said.
Millions of people in Britain are struggling to afford basic necessities, with a new report warning that the number living in the deepest levels of poverty has reached a 30-year high, driven by soaring housing costs and rising child poverty.
India and the European Union have finalised a long-pending trade deal, both sides said on Tuesday, calling it the “mother of all deals” as they seek to hedge against uncertainty in U.S. trade ties.
The Trump administration has signalled to Ukraine that U.S. security guarantees depend on Kyiv agreeing to a peace deal likely requiring it to cede the Donbas region to Russia, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
France’s National Assembly has approved a bill banning access to social media for children under 15, a move backed by President Emmanuel Macron and the government as part of efforts to protect teenagers’ mental and physical health.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment