Big Brother Watch report reveals 62,000 arrests for communications offences
A Big Brother Watch report finds 62,000 arrests for communications offences over five years, prompting calls for a free speech review.
The Full Story
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A new report from the civil liberties group Big Brother Watch has found that more than 60,000 people were arrested for communications offences in Britain over the past five years. The group says the figures show the country is facing a free speech crisis and is urging the Prime Minister to review laws that it argues are being used to police what people say and watch online.
The report, published on Tuesday, records 62,000 arrests, 18,000 charges and 12,000 convictions for offences including malicious communications and causing non-trivial psychological harm. Big Brother Watch's legal and policy officer, Maya Thomas, said the laws are so poorly written that police forces are struggling to apply them consistently. She pointed to a stark regional disparity: in Cumbria, a person is 14 times more likely to be arrested for something they said than in neighbouring Northumbria.
Thomas also highlighted the case of a 14-year-old girl who was taken to a police station and made to undergo a voluntary interview after she had watched a TikTok video. The girl had not created, shared or commented on the video, but was still treated as a suspect. Thomas described the situation as "equally chilling" to an arrest and said it showed that free speech in Britain is "broken".
The report calls for an independent, national review of all laws relating to speech, both online and offline, including protest. Thomas argued that speech is the fundamental power of the people and that any law that restricts it is oppressive. She said the debate should not be framed as left versus right, because the state threatens free speech on both sides.
The findings were discussed on GB News Tonight, where the panel debated whether the arrests represent a waste of police resources or a necessary response to online abuse. Nigel Nelson, a political commentator, said online crime should be treated the same as offline crime, but that watching a TikTok video is not the same as issuing a death threat. He agreed with the report's concern about regional disparities, but said mistakes are made and that the basic principle of prosecuting threats and harassment should stand.
Historian and broadcaster Rafe Heydel-Mankoo took a stronger line, calling the arrests "shameful" and noting that only one in five arrests leads to a conviction. He said police forces may be using the process as intimidation, and that England, as the birthplace of free speech, should not tolerate such behaviour. He also pointed out that the low conviction rate suggests many arrests are unjustified.
Big Brother Watch is now calling on the government to reset free speech laws, arguing that unclear terms such as "grossly offensive" leave too much room for interpretation. The group says the current approach is anti-democratic and risks instilling fear in the next generation.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.
| Claim | GB News |
|---|---|
| 62,000 people were arrested for communications offences over the last five years. | |
| In Cumbria, a person is 14 times more likely to be arrested for what they say than in Northumbria. | |
| Only one in five arrests for communications offences leads to a conviction, with 12,000 convictions from 62,000 arrests. |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
GB News framed the report as evidence of a free speech crisis, with the host opening with the question 'Is Britain facing a free speech crisis?' The segment highlighted trivial arrests, regional disparities, and the low conviction rate, and included a panel debate that balanced concerns about online abuse with criticism of police overreach. The tone was critical of the current laws and sympathetic to the report's call for a review.
- “Is Britain facing a free speech crisis?”
- “This is just clearly an indication that these laws are not well written, they're not clear, and police forces just really struggle to figure out what to actually do with them.”
- “England is the birthplace of free speech. The American First Amendment is English law embedded in America. And to see the police doing this is absolutely indefensible.”
Broadcast Timeline
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