> I explicitly said that the UK wasn't free of issues: my pointing out the US was worse wasn't defending our own, simply making the point that some Americans tend to massively exaggerate the UK's issues while pretending the US doesn't have any.

What you are doing is called "whataboutism".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

I and others are perfectly aware that the US is no paradise. However the UK is much worse than the US.

> Average people from the UK are going to assume that any pushback on speech controls is nutters if the message comes with absurd exaggerations and outright lies. There are legitimate cases of overreach from our legal system, but too often the focus is on someone actively calling for violence, and those are not the same.

The average person in the UK probably isn't even aware there are speech controls and probably would support them. Free speech is something that the British public don't value.

The British Government BTW has a long history of suppressing speech, lying to its own citizens, locking up people that they didn't like. They can always find a reason to do it as there are any number of laws you are in violation in without you even being aware of it.

> …while pretending the US doesn't have any.

As far as I can tell, the comment you replied to did not do any such thing.

They’re referring to the comment upthread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44198428

Yes, I’m aware. I should have said “referred to” instead of “replied to”.

Hmm, to me that comment is clearly making a comparison between the US and the UK and suggesting that the UK is in a worse position with regard to freedom of expression (“from across the pond”).