DAN GAINOR: England doesn’t have free speech and wants to take ours away, too

From arresting comedians to fining American companies, Britain's speech laws threaten global free expression. Legal experts call it a 'clear and present danger' to the U.S.

Dan Gainor is a freelance opinion editor for Fox News Digital. He is also a science fiction/fantasy author. His latest work is in a collection called, "Cannon Fodder 2025: Tales from the Gun Crew." 

England arrests 12,000 people a year for what they say online. As someone who speaks his mind on the internet, that’s a terrifying prospect. No, I didn’t expect to spend a long time in a British jail, but getting in trouble for things I’ve said online isn’t restricted to British residents either. 

Just ask comedian Graham Linehan. Five Metropolitan police arrested him for his posts about transgender men who claim they are women. The arrest itself looked like something from a Monty Python skit mocking a fascist state, not from a democracy that has turned into one. The police statement about the incident is terrifying: "The man in his 50s was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence. This is in relation to posts on X." He is not English, he’s Irish and the comments he made were while he was here in the United States.