UK Prosecutes Citizens for Memes and Reposts — Multi-Year Sentences for Single Social Media Posts
In the weeks following the August 2024 riots, UK courts handed down custodial sentences of between 18 months and 3 years for individual social media posts, memes, and reposts — many made by people with no connection to any physical disorder. Cases included: a woman sentenced to 15 months for a Facebook post she later deleted; a man jailed for sharing an anti-immigration meme; and multiple individuals prosecuted for posts made years before the riots under the Malicious Communications Act and the Communications Act 2003. The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed over 480 individuals had been charged with communications offences by October 2024. Civil liberties groups including Liberty and Big Brother Watch described the prosecutions as disproportionate and politically selective, noting that comparable content from different political perspectives was not prosecuted.