lumberjack did not say that the EU does not have a freedom of expression. lumberjack did say that the EU doesn't have freedom of speech "as an American would understand it".

Article 10 of the ECHR as interpreted by the ECtHR is very different from the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as presently interpreted by SCOTUS.

It's also worth noting that the First Amendment as presently interpreted by SCOTUS protects some speech that was not always unambiguously protected; see e.g., a good fraction of humans pre-1970-or-so, the evolution of the court's treatment of obscenity, speech in the schoolhouse, and so on. In some sense, even previous Americans didn't have freedom of speech as a modern American would understand it.

And you're pretending ECHR Article 10 § 2 doesn't exist. Freedom of speech isn't freedom of speech if there's a giant asterisk next to it.

Freedom of speech is not a binary thing. No country in the world has absolute freedom of speech. However most EU member states are among the most free in the world (see e.g. https://rsf.org/en/ranking).

That list has little relevance on this subject, because if you look at their methodologies they look at a lot more than government influence. (see https://rsf.org/en/detailed-methodology)

In fact it lists the US below pretty much every European country, and the US is known to have some of the most permissive free speech laws.

> and the US is known to have some of the most permissive free speech laws.

But look at all the US kids having armed police sent to their homes because they swore on Xbox live.

> But look at all the US kids having armed police sent to their homes because they swore on Xbox live.

I'm assuming you have links or evidence to back those claims up. Or are you mistaking this for kids getting swatted[1], because I certainly haven't heard of kids getting in trouble with police for swearing on Xbox live and I feel like that would make national news.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatting

It's not because of swearing, it's generally because of a grudge.

Making false statements to police is not protected speech. In every instance of this happening that I'm aware of when police are able to track down the individual(s) responsible, they are prosecuted, generally to the fullest extent of the law. It's dangerous to make something like a murder/suicide threat, and it should be treated & prosecuted as such. Yes, the police probably overreact, but they don't necessarily know it's a hoax.

Are there any opinions, if stated, that can land you in prison in America?

I'm not talking about threats, just opinions.

Maybe voicing an option on jury nullification in the wrong location at the wrong time?[0] That is just a shot in the dark though.

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_nullification

As I understand it, the opinion itself is not illegal, but the act of specifically targeting jurors might be. But I'm also under the impression that these sort of charges often but not always get tossed. I'm pretty damn confident that it's fully legal for me to say here and now: I believe jury nullification is a good idea.

And I'm not aware of any other sort of opinions that are illegal to state in America. Even denying or applauding genocides and other atrocities is legal in America.