Irish comedian Graham Linehan, the writer-director known for sitcoms “The IT Crowd” and “Father Ted,” was arrested at Heathrow Airport this week after stepping off a flight from the United States.
The charge against Linehan was the posting of several crude and blunt comments on X defending females against trans-identifying males.
In other words, he was arrested for his speech.
Five officers were waiting for Linehan (pictured below) when he exited the plane. One told him he was being arrested for allegedly publishing an X post “intended to instill hatred and violence.”
Before his arrest this week, Linehan was already standing trial on a charge of harassment for online posts that criticized a transgender teen, Sophia Brooks. Linehan, accurately referring to the activist as "he," called Brooks "a deeply disturbed sociopath and I believe he had some involvement in Friday’s homophobic attack.”
Nigel Farage, a conservative U.K. parliament member, spoke this week at a meeting of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee to examine European threats to America’s free speech and innovation.
“This legislation we've got will damage trade between our countries, threaten free speech across the West because of the knock-on rollout effects of this legislation from us or from the European Union. So, I've come today as well to be a klaxon to say to you, don't allow, piece by piece, this to happen here in America,” Farage said.
A story by The Telegraph, published after Linehan's arrest, said British police are averaging 30 arrests a day as they chase down the creators behind offensive posts. The story included photos of Brits (pictured below, right) who have been visited by police for their online comments.
The overseas laws in question are the U.K.’s Online Safety Act and the European Union’s Digital Services Act.
Stated goals for the laws are the protect children and vulnerable adults from exploitation, to create “safe digital spaces” and accountability for the Big Tech companies that provide speech platforms.
Potential side effects for free speech are severe.
Government-defined harmful content, such as defining what is "hate" and what is not, could erode protections for lawful expression.
Compliance costs for could entrench Big Tech while squeezing smaller platforms, and satire and criticism face a potentially chilling effect.
“Basically, an X (post) is held to the same standard as the New York Post, and this does not mean it's one country or another. This means that actually, it could be anyone, any U.S. citizen, anyone,” Pete Mcilvenna, co-founder of Heart of Oaks, said on Washington Watch Thursday.
The author of a post originating in the U.S. won’t face extradition for violating European laws but could face detainment and steep fines while traveling in those countries.
“The U.K. government doesn't seem to make any distinction with territorial boundaries. It simply has become judge and arbiter and said anything that is said online on any social media platform that anyone may find offensive, then you've broken the law,” Mcilvenna told show host Jody Hice.
First Amendment rights for U.S. citizens do not extend overseas.
Detainment aside, U.S. users of these platforms could face certain disruptions.
Companies such as Meta, Google, TikTok, and X often apply EU/UK rules across their global services rather than running different versions in different regions. That means stricter moderation in Europe may spill over into what U.S. users can post or see.
To avoid fines, platforms may course-correct to an extreme, including the removal of lawful but controversial speech. Even if you’re in the U.S., your content could be flagged if platforms adopt EU/UK “harm” definitions globally.
Some of the most sensitive areas — politics, elections, public health, gender — are exactly where rules about “misinformation” can overlap with legitimate debate. U.S. users might see fewer voices or topics in their feeds because platforms err on the side of removal.
These European governments are responding to the rise populist parties, Mcilvenna said, noting recent conservative political successes in Germany, Austria and France.
“They have huge concerns of the rise of populist parties, as you've had (in America) the huge success of President (Donald) Trump being reelected. (U.K. and EU leaders) have done everything they can to make sure and keep that support down,” Mcilvenna said, fearing “that the people may actually have their way.”
