They're not arrested for posting on Facebook. They're arrested for _what_ they're posting on Facebook.

Just like any other authoritarian state

Hardly. There are limits to speech in most jurisdictions. That hardly crosses the threshold for "authoritarian". The high profile cases in the UK have been around incitement to violence and contempt of court.

Yes, people in the US don't get arrested for that.

Yes, they do.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-az/pr/page-man-charged-threaten...

https://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/30/us/georgia-woman-facebook...

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/10/19/influencer-gets-months-i...

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndal/pr/birmingham-man-sentence...

Stop it. We don't deal in "facts" any more.

No, they get arrested for conduct that would be criminal no matter where they did it. Facebook (2x) and Twitter (2x) were the (virtual) venues where the crimes were committed, but the crimes were attempting to organize a mob to burn down a courthouse, inciting and threatening to murder police, conspiracy to suppress votes and threatening to kill the President. The crimes would be just as criminal had they been done in person at a local bar (or any other physical location).

Which is exactly the same as in the UK.

> The crimes would be just as criminal had they been done in person at a local bar (or any other physical location).

I agree. Where the US differs is that because of the US's 1st amendment it's _not_ a crime to say those things even in a bar.

Anyway, all of that to say that americans are arrested for posting things on the internet, despite what people claim.

Of course they are. Violent threats and admitting illegal activity on social media can lead to arrests in the US. By being so unspecific your comment does not really foster good discussion on the topic. You should describe what kind of posts they are being arrested for and which laws/protections in the UK you are specifically criticizing.

There are limits to speech in every country, including the US. What I always find baffling is the sheer arrogance of Americans, that the only way to be a free and democratic country is their way, to the extent that they send their elected representatives to Germany of all places to implicitly argue for the legalisation of the Hitler salute.

Meanwhile their country has slid into fascism. Sad and tragic.

The AP News was just kicked out of press conferences for not using the government-preferred term for the Gulf of Mexico. The new director of the FBI is pledging to go after members of the press that he doesn't like. The US is jumping headfirst in the "bad speech isn't free" direction in the past month.