Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-002239/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Christine Anderson (ESN)
Recent reports in The Times (4 April 2025)[1] reveal that UK police make over 30 arrests per day for ‘offensive’ online communications under vague laws criminalising messages that cause ‘annoyance’, ‘inconvenience’ or ‘anxiety’. Over 12 000 such arrests occurred in 2023 alone, with civil liberties groups warning of a chilling effect on free speech. Most cases do not result in conviction, yet individuals are subjected to police detention and reputational damage merely for expressing controversial views online.
Given the EU’s own trajectory of regulating online content via the Digital Services Act and other instruments, and in view of the UK’s post-Brexit shift away from EU legal safeguards such as the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, I ask the Commission:
- 1.Does the Commission consider Brexit a contributing factor in this decline in free expression in the UK?
- 2.What safeguards exist in EU law to prevent similar over-policing of speech in the Member States, particularly when this results from employing vague legal terms and concepts?
- 3.How will the Commission ensure that EU digital regulation does not enable comparable infringements on freedom of expression?
Submitted: 4.6.2025
- [1] https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/police-make-30-arrests-a-day-for-offensive-online-messages-zbv886tqf.