Taken to court for exercising their free speech rights? Even if it's "crap some other donkey is saying on the Internet", it's still protected by law in a lot of jurisdictions. And I'm thankful for that.

There is a difference between "free speech rights" and not taking responsibility for your free speech rights. Just because you have free speech doesn't mean you can (or should) be able to just quote anything or anyone without being accountable for it. If you feel like you should be able to retweet "crap" that's being said about someone without knowing the facts (defamation of character) you should also be man enough to be accountable if it turns out you were wrong.

Free speech isn't a licence to kill.

Speaking isn't killing.

Of course, it's good that a person be held accountable for their tweets and other communications. Neo-nazi or racist speech can be condemned, libel and false speech can be condemned. A person doing this can be outed as a bigot or liar.

But is that a reason for arresting a person? In the USA, the First Amendment to the Constitution says no. In other countries, apparently this is allowable, which is a dangerous tool in the hands of authorities.

Does the same apply to journalists? If not, where's the line?