A UK court sentenced a man to prison for posting anti-immigrant messages on the social network X (formerly Twitter), ruling that his posts constituted incitement to racial hatred, despite their limited reach. The case has reignited the debate about the growing limits of free speech and criminal liability in the use of digital platforms.
The convicted man, Luke Yarwood, 36, received an 18-month
prison sentence after posting two messages in December 2024, shortly after a
vehicle attack at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg. According
to the prosecution, the tweets used the attack as a pretext to spread hostile
expressions against immigrants, which authorities considered a hate crime.
Despite the posts only receiving 33 views, the case went to
court after the messages were reported to the police by a close relative of
Yarwood: his brother-in-law, with whom he had a troubled personal relationship.
Following the report, authorities launched an investigation that culminated in
the criminal proceedings and subsequent conviction.
The court ruling has generated controversy among some
sectors of public opinion, with some questioning the severity of the sentence
in relation to the actual reach of the messages, while others defend the
decision as a sign of zero tolerance for speech that promotes racial
discrimination, regardless of the number of people who saw it.
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