Censorship in the United Kingdom has taken many forms throughout the history of the country, with either various stringent and lax laws in place at different times, especially concerning British cinema, entertainment venues, literature, the

monarchy A monarchy is a government#Forms, form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The legitimacy (political)#monarchy, political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restric ...

and the press. In a specific sense, the concept of

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recog ...

generally does not exist as a fundamental right within the country.

British citizens British nationality law prescribes the conditions under which a person is recognised as being a national of the United Kingdom. The six different classes of British nationality each have varying degrees of civil and political rights, due to the ...

have a

negative right Negative and positive rights are rights that oblige either inaction (''negative rights'') or action (''positive rights''). These obligations may be of either a legal or moral character. The notion of positive and negative rights may also be ap ...

to freedom of expression under the

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...

. In 69, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

incorporated the

European Convention Several bodies or treaties are known as European Convention. Bodies of the European Union * European Convention (1999–2000) which drafted the: ** ''Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union'' (2000 / 2009) * Convention on the Future of ...

into its domestic law under the Human Rights Act, although a repeal has been proposed, with a replacement known as the Bill of Rights Bill 2022 announced with draft text on 22 June 2022. Even under the current Human Rights Act, there is a broad sweep of exceptions. They include threatening or abusive words or behaviour intending or likely to cause

harassment, alarm or distress Harassment, alarm or distress is an element of a statutory offence in England and Wales, arising from an expression used in sections 4A and 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, which created the offence. The Act was amended in 1994. The offence The ...

or cause a

breach of the peace Breach of the peace, or disturbing the peace, is a legal term used in constitutional law in English-speaking countries and in a public order sense in the several jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It is a form of disorderly conduct. Public ord ...

, sending another any article which is indecent or grossly offensive with an intent to cause distress or anxiety,

incitement In criminal law, incitement is the encouragement of another person to commit a crime. Depending on the jurisdiction, some or all types of incitement may be illegal. Where illegal, it is known as an inchoate offense, where harm is intended but ...

incitement to racial hatred Incitement to ethnic or racial hatred is a crime under the laws of several countries. Australia In Australia, the Racial Hatred Act 1995 amends the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, inserting Part IIA – Offensive Behaviour Because of Race, Colour ...

, incitement to religious hatred, incitement to

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

including encouragement of terrorism and dissemination of terrorist publications, glorifying terrorism, collection or possession of a document or record containing information likely to be of use to a terrorist,Possession of ''

Inspire The following is a thematic list of European Union directives: For a date based list, see the :European Union directives by number Numbering From 1 January 1992 to 31 December 2014, numbers assigned by the General Secretariat of the Council ...

'' has been successfully prosecuted under Section 58 of the

Terrorism Act 2000 The Terrorism Act 2000 (c.11) is the first of a number of general Terrorism Acts passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It superseded and repealed the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989 and the Northern Ireland (Emer ...

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

, sedition, obscenity, indecency including corruption of

public morals Public morality refers to moral and ethical standards enforced in a society, by law or police work or social pressure, and applied to public life, to the content of the media, and to conduct in public places. A famous remark of Mrs Patrick C ...

and

outraging public decency Outraging public decency is a common law offence in England and Wales, Halsbury's Laws of England 5th edition, volume 26, paragraph 717 Hong Kong and the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria. It is punishable by unlimited imprisonme ...

, defamation,

prior restraint Prior restraint (also referred to as prior censorship or pre-publication censorship) is censorship imposed, usually by a government or institution, on expression, that prohibits particular instances of expression. It is in contrast to censorship ...

, restrictions on court reporting including names of victims and evidence and prejudicing or interfering with court proceedings, prohibition of post-trial interviews with jurors, time, manner, and place restrictions, harassment, privileged communications, trade secrets, classified material, copyright, patents, military conduct, and limitations on commercial speech such as advertising. As of 2022, the United Kingdom is ranked 35th on the

Press Freedom Index The Press Freedom Index is an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by Reporters Without Borders since 2002 based upon the organisation's own assessment of the countries' press freedom records in the previous year. It intends to re ...

Ministry of Information

The Ministry of Information was created during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and then reformed for the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

for propaganda purposes. In the Second World War it was located at the Senate House of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. During the Second World War it was infamous for having a staff of 999. The Ministry was responsible for keeping much information out of the public domain during the war years, as it was thought that this would have been harmful to the national sentiment. It also censored many press reports that were not deemed to be sufficiently patriotic, or that listed military operations to a level of detail that could be used by the enemy. The Ministry took over the General Post Office Film Unit, renaming it the Crown Film Unit. It produced documentaries such as ''

Target for Tonight ''Target for Tonight'' (or ''Target for To-Night'') is a 1941 British World War II documentary film billed as filmed and acted by the Royal Air Force, all during wartime operations. It was directed by Harry Watt for the Crown Film Unit. The fi ...

'' (1941), ''Western Approaches'' (1944) and '' London Can Take It!'' (1940). It also created a feature-length fictional film; '' 49th Parallel'' (1941). Following this it solely created documentaries, although it also laid down propaganda guidelines for commercial films. The Ministry was disbanded following the end of the

Laws on obscenity and sexual content

Obscenity law in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

is currently governed by the various

Obscene Publications Act Since 1857, a series of obscenity laws known as the Obscene Publications Acts have governed what can be published in England and Wales. The classic definition of criminal obscenity is if it "tends to deprave and corrupt," stated in 1868 by Lord ...

s, and

Section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 Section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 is a law in the United Kingdom criminalising possession of what it refers to as "extreme pornographic images". The law came into force on 26 January 2009. The legislation was brought in ...

but obscenity laws go back much further into the

English common law English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures. Principal elements of English law Although the common law has, historically, be ...

. The conviction in 1727 of

Edmund Curll Edmund Curll (''c.'' 1675 – 11 December 1747) was an English bookseller and publisher. His name has become synonymous, through the attacks on him by Alexander Pope, with unscrupulous publication and publicity. Curll rose from poverty to wealt ...

for the publication of '' Venus in the Cloister or The Nun in her Smock'' under the

offence of disturbing the King's peace was the first conviction for obscenity in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

, and set a

legal precedent A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great valu ...

for other convictions. A defence against the charge of obscenity on the grounds of

literary merit Artistic merit is the artistic quality or value of any given work of art, music, film, literature, sculpture or painting. Obscenity and literary merit The 1921 US trial of James Joyce's novel '' Ulysses'' concerned the publication of the ''Naus ...

was introduced in the

Obscene Publications Act 1959 The Obscene Publications Act 1959 (c. 66) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom Parliament that significantly reformed the law related to obscenity in England and Wales. Prior to the passage of the Act, the law on publishing obscene mater ...

. The OPA was tested in the high-profile obscenity trial brought against

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Lady Chatterley's Lover'' (by

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

) in 1960. The book was found to have merit, and Penguin Books was found not guilty – a ruling which granted far more freedom to publish explicit material. This trial did not establish the 'merit' defence as an automatic right; several controversial books and publications were the subject of British court cases throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s. ''

Last Exit to Brooklyn ''Last Exit to Brooklyn'' is a 1964 novel by American author Hubert Selby Jr. The novel takes a harsh, uncompromising look at lower class Brooklyn in the 1950s written in a brusque, everyman style of prose. Critics and fellow writers praised ...

'', a 1964 novel by American author

Hubert Selby, Jr. Hubert "Cubby" Selby Jr. (July 23, 1928 – April 26, 2004) was an American writer. Two of his novels, ''Last Exit to Brooklyn'' (1964) and ''Requiem for a Dream'' (1978) explore worlds in the New York area and were adapted as films, both of whi ...

was subject of a private prosecution in 1966. The distinction between legal

erotic literature Erotic literature comprises fictional and factual stories and accounts of eros (passionate, romantic or sexual relationships) intended to arouse similar feelings in readers. This contrasts erotica, which focuses more specifically on sexual feel ...

and illegal pornography was traditionally made in the English-speaking courts on the basis of perceived

. No prosecutions of purely textual pornography took place following the '' Inside Linda Lovelace'' trial of 1976 until October 2008 when a man was charged (but later cleared) under the Obscene Publications Act for allegedly posting fictional written material to the Internet describing kidnap, rape and murder of pop group

Girls Aloud Girls Aloud were an pop girl group that was created through the ITV talent show '' Popstars: The Rivals'' in 2002. The group comprised singers Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh. The group achieved a str ...

(the

R v Walker ''R v Walker'' was an English Crown Court case that was a test of the Obscene Publications Act 1959. It was the first such prosecution involving written material in nearly two decades and set a precedent in use of the act to prosecute web ficti ...

trial). In late August 2005, the government announced that it planned to criminalise possession of extreme pornographic material, rather than just publication, and the law came into force as

. Under a law introduced in May 2015, not only creation but also possession of manuals giving advice how to groom or abuse children is also outlawed. Almost all adult stores in the UK are forbidden from having their goods in open display under the Indecent Displays Act 1981, which means the shop fronts are often boarded up or covered in posters. A warning sign must be clearly shown at the entrance to the store, and no items can be visible from the street. No customer can be under eighteen years old. The

Video Recordings Act 1984 The Video Recordings Act 1984 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was passed in 1984. It states that commercial video recordings offered for sale or for hire within the UK must carry a classification that has been agreed upon ...

introduced the R18-rated classification for videos that are only available in licensed sex shops, but hardcore pornographic magazines are available in newsagents in some places. The Ann Summers chain of

lingerie Lingerie (, , ) is a category of primarily women's clothing including undergarments (mainly brassieres), sleepwear, and lightweight robes. The choice of the word is often motivated by an intention to imply that the garments are alluring, fash ...

and sex shops recently won the right to advertise for workers in

job centres Jobcentre Plus ( cy, Canolfan byd Gwaith; gd, Ionad Obrach is Eile) is a brand used by the Department for Work and Pensions in the United Kingdom. From 2002 to 2011, Jobcentre Plus was an executive agency which reported directly to the Minis ...

, which was originally banned under restrictions on what advertising could be carried out by the

sex industry The sex industry (also called the sex trade) consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of sex-related ...

Stage licensing

Censorship of stage plays was exercised by the

Master of the Revels The Master of the Revels was the holder of a position within the English, and later the British, royal household, heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels". The Master of the Revels was an executive officer under the Lord Chamberlain ...

in England by about 1600 until the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

in 1642. In 1737, partly as a result of political attacks by

Henry Fielding Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754) was an English novelist, irony writer, and dramatist known for earthy humour and satire. His comic novel ''Tom Jones'' is still widely appreciated. He and Samuel Richardson are seen as founders ...

against Robert Walpole, Parliament enacted a law that established "the Examiner of the Stage" (an official in the

Lord Chamberlain The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom while also acting as the main c ...

's office) to censor plays on the basis of both politics and morals (i.e. sexual impropriety, blasphemy, and foul language). Plays had to be licensed by the Lord Chamberlain. In 1737, through the influence of the

Duke of Grafton Duke of Grafton is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1675 by Charles II of England for Henry FitzRoy, his second illegitimate son by the Duchess of Cleveland. The most notable duke of Grafton was Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke ...

, the Shakespearian commentator

Edward Capell Edward Capell (11 June 171324 February 1781) was an English Shakespearian critic. Biography He was born at Troston Hall () in Suffolk. Through the influence of the Duke of Grafton he was appointed to the office of deputy-inspector of plays ...

was appointed with an annual salary of £200 as deputy-examiner of plays. This censorship by licensing requirement was finally abolished by the

Theatres Act 1968 The Theatres Act 1968 abolished censorship of the stage in the United Kingdom, receiving royal assent on 26 July 1968, after passing both Houses of Parliament.Rufus Osgood Mason (who gives an example of a written license from 1814):

Charles Kemble Charles Kemble (25 November 1775 – 12 November 1854) was a Welsh-born English actor of a prominent theatre family. Life Charles Kemble was one of 13 siblings and the youngest son of English Roman Catholic theatre manager/actor Roger Kemble ...

, later in life, received the appointment of "Examiner of Plays". The duties consisted in reading the plays which had been accepted by the managers of the different theatres, to see that they contained nothing objectionable either on the score of politics or morals. Those that were approved were reported to the Lord Chamberlain who issued the license.

Libel law

England and Wales have relatively strict libel laws (" defamation" in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

) in that they are often considered pro plaintiff with the defendant asked to prove that they did not commit libel. Compensation awards for libel are also unlimited, in contrast to those for personal injury. Further controversy surrounds the libel laws with regard to costs. Whilst costs can be awarded the ability both to bring and to defend libel cases is often considered to be restricted to the wealthy. Conversely it is possible to initiate a "no win – no fee" case against a wealthy individual or organisation if the individual bringing the case has insignificant assets as even if the case is lost the wealthy individual or organisation are unable to recover their costs. Typically in such cases an out of court settlement is forced upon the wealthy individual or organisation. A recent example is the case of Simon Singh's lawsuit, where author and journalist Simon Singh was sued by the

British Chiropractic Association The British Chiropractic Association (BCA) was founded in 1925 and represents over 50% of UK chiropractors. It is the largest and longest established association for chiropractors in the United Kingdom. The BCA have implemented campaigns regardi ...

for criticism of chiropractic therapy which rested on a summary of recent scientific research. Singh has been able to pursue a legal defence because of his earnings from four best-sellers. In another case the UK based academic publisher Equinox was forced to remove a peer reviewed academic article from its publication International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law. The article "charlatanry in forensic speech science" was a metastudy of lie detector research and came to the conclusion that lie detectors don't work. The Israeli manufacturer of lie detectors Nemesysco forced the publisher to remove the already published article from the online databases and the journal was also forced to publish an apology in a later issue. On 15 March 2011, a "Draft Defamation Bill" (CP3/11) was published by the

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

with an accompanying "consultation paper containing provisions for reforming the law to strike the right balance between protection of freedom of speech and protection of reputation". (Close date: 10 June 2011) The

Defamation Act 2013 The Defamation Act 2013 (c 26) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which reformed English defamation law on issues of the right to freedom of expression and the protection of reputation. It also comprised a response to perception ...

reformed English defamation law on issues of the right to freedom of expression and the protection of reputation. It also comprised a response to perceptions that the law as it stood was giving rise to libel tourism and other inappropriate claims.

Blasphemy law

Blasphemy against

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

was long an important part of British censorship, with the unwritten

containing an offence of blasphemous libel. Prosecutions were rare, however, the last one being the 1977 '' Gay News'' legal case '' Whitehouse v. Lemon''. Later developments around the turn of the 21st century put the continued viability of blasphemy prosecutions in doubt. The offence was definitively abolished on 8 May 2008. Critics claimed the

Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 (c. 1) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which creates an offence in England and Wales of inciting hatred against a person on the grounds of their religion. The Act was the Labour Governm ...

could hinder freedom of speech.New effort to ban religious hate
, BBC News, 11 June 2005. Retrieved 29 May 2006. Leaders of major religions as well as non-religious groups such as the

National Secular Society The National Secular Society (NSS) is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of it. It was ...

and

English PEN Founded in 1921, English PEN is one of the world's first non-governmental organisations and among the first international bodies advocating for human rights. English PEN was the founding centre of PEN International, a worldwide writers' associat ...

spoke out in order to campaign against the Bill. Comedians and

satirist This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires. Under Contemporary, 1930-196 ...

s also fear prosecution for their work. However, a late amendment to the Act as a result of these campaigns reads: "Nothing in this Part shall be read or given effect in a way which prohibits or restricts discussion, criticism or expressions of antipathy, dislike, ridicule, insult or abuse of particular religions or the beliefs or practices of their adherents, or of any other belief system or the beliefs or practices of its adherents, or proselytising or urging adherents of a different religion or belief system to cease practising their religion or belief system."

National security

There are several

Acts The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message ...

of the

United Kingdom Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremac ...

for the protection of official information, mainly related to national security. The latest revision is the

Official Secrets Act 1989 The Official Secrets Act 1989 (c. 6) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that repeals and replaces section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911, thereby removing the public interest defence created by that section. Lord Bingham s ...

(1989 chapter 6), which removed the ''public interest defence'' by repealing section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911. In 2004, a memo containing details of a possible US bombing of broadcaster

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...

was leaked to the press. Attorney General Peter Goldsmith has warned newspapers that they could be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act if they publish the contents of the memo, saying "You are reminded that to publish the contents of a document which is known to have been unlawfull disclosed by a crown servant is in itself a breach of section 5 of the Official Secrets Act 1989".Secrecy gag prompted by fear of new Blair-Bush revelations
, Guardian Unlimited, 24 November 2005. Retrieved 31 May 2006 The

makes it an offence to collect or possess, and as amended in 2019 also to access, information likely to be of use to a terrorist. Bilal Zaheer Ahmad, 23, from

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...

, is believed to be the first person convicted of collecting information likely to be of use to a terrorist, including the al-Qaeda publication ''

''. Since then, Ben Raymond of the group National Action has also been convicted, among other charges, of possession of terrorist information, including Anders Breivik's manifesto and a guide to homemade detonators. The

Terrorism Act 2006 The Terrorism Act 2006 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that received royal assent on 30 March 2006, after being introduced on 12 October 2005. The Act creates new offences related to terrorism, and amends existing ones. Th ...

makes it an offence to "glorify"

. There are concerns that this could limit

DSMA-Notice In the United Kingdom, a DSMA-Notice (Defence and Security Media Advisory Notice) is an official request to news editors not to publish or broadcast items on specified subjects for reasons of national security. DSMA-Notices were formerly called a ...

s (Defence and Security Media Advisory Notice, formerly a DA-Notice) are official but voluntary requests to news editors not to publish items on specified subjects, for reasons of national security.

Prior restraint

Beyond obscenity law, there have been a number of organisations whose main function was to approve material prior to distribution. Plays and theatres had long been licensed by the Crown prior to 1737. Licensure of a playhouse, however, only gave a general patent. The crown had no ability to censor before plays were performed. Under the provisions of the Theatrical Licensing Act of 1737 as extended by the

Theatres Act 1843 The Theatres Act 1843 (6 & 7 Vict., c. 68) (also known as the Theatre Regulation Act) is a defunct Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. It amended the regime established under the Licensing Act 1737 for the licensing of the theatre in Great B ...

, the

Lord Chamberlain's Office The Lord Chamberlain's Office is a department within the British Royal Household. It is concerned with matters such as protocol, state visits, investitures, garden parties, royal weddings and funerals. For example, in April 2005 it organised th ...

was able to censor plays. This role continued until the

Theatres Act 1968 The Theatres Act 1968 abolished censorship of the stage in the United Kingdom, receiving royal assent on 26 July 1968, after passing both Houses of Parliament.cause célèbre A cause célèbre (,''Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged'', 12th Edition, 2014. S.v. "cause célèbre". Retrieved November 30, 2018 from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/cause+c%c3%a9l%c3%a8bre ,''Random House Kernerman Webs ...

s, and a long campaign by the theatre critic

Kenneth Tynan Kenneth Peacock Tynan (2 April 1927 – 26 July 1980) was an English theatre critic and writer. Making his initial impact as a critic at ''The Observer'', he praised Osborne's ''Look Back in Anger'' (1956), and encouraged the emerging wave of ...

among others. The

British Board of Film Classification The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of f ...

is the ''de facto'' film censor for films in the United Kingdom; since films not rated by the BBFC cannot be shown in most cinemas, or distributed as videos or DVDs, lack of BBFC approval generally makes productions of such films uneconomic. *In the case of films shown in cinemas, local authorities have the final legal say about who can watch a particular film. Almost always local authorities accept the Board's recommendation for a certificate for a film. *Under the Video Recording Act 1984, almost all video recordings must be classified by an authority chosen by the Home Secretary. This classification is then legally binding. Since the introduction of the Act, the BBFC has been the chosen authority. Certain works such as those that are related to sport, religion or which are designed to educate can be exempt from classification by the BBFC under the act. Up until 2007, the

Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre The Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) was a non-governmental organisation which until the end of 2007 pre-approved most British television advertising. The work of the BACC has been taken over by Clearcast. BACC approval was applied b ...

pre-approved most British television advertising (under Ofcom rules, other broadcasters can also approve their own advertising content, but most rely on the BACC). The Advertising Standards Authority is the regulatory advertising body, but can only prevent the republication of advertisements after upholding complaints from the general public. The advent of the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

access has made the act of censorship more difficult, and there has been a relaxation of censorship in recognition of this. BBFC guidelines have been relaxed further to allow the limited distribution of hardcore pornography under an R18 certificate, partially because of this, and partially because of a recognition that public attitudes have changed. Further confirmation of this change in attitude was provided by the French film ''

Baise-moi ''Baise-moi'' is a 2000 French crime thriller film written and directed by Virginie Despentes and Coralie Trinh Thi and starring Karen Lancaume and Raffaëla Anderson. It is based on the novel by Despentes, first published in 1993. The film rece ...

'', which was given an 18 certificate despite showing scenes of unsimulated sexual activity. Ofcom is now the regulatory body for UK television, radio, and telecommunications services since the abolition of the

Independent Television Commission The Independent Television Commission (ITC) licensed and regulated commercial television services in the United Kingdom (except S4C in Wales) between 1 January 1991 and 28 December 2003. History The creation of ITC, by the Broadcasting Act ...

. Ofcom exerts its powers under the

Communications Act 2003 The Communications Act 2003 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act, which came into force on 25 July 2003, superseded the Telecommunications Act 1984. The new act was the responsibility of Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell. It ...

. The government's new requirements for Ofcom only require it to ensure adherence to "generally accepted standards" and prevention of harm, removing the former requirement to adhere to standards of "taste and decency". '' Worldwide Press Freedom Index'', published by Reporters Without Borders, gave the United Kingdom a score of 5.17, making it 24th.

Self-regulation of publication

A number of industries carry out what is known as self-regulation. Self-regulation seeks to keep content within the bounds of what is publicly acceptable, thus preventing government intervention to bring about official regulation. Some of the areas they are concerned about include obscenity,

slander Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

and libel. There is no clear line between self-regulation in matters of expression and self-censorship. In 2019, intelligence researcher James Flynn reported an example of self-regulation resulting in the cancelled publication of a book about censorship itself. Flynn's book, ''In Defence of Free Speech'' was originally accepted by

Emerald Insight Emerald Publishing Limited is a scholarly publisher of academic journals and books in the fields of management, business, education, library studies, health care, and engineering. History Emerald was founded in the United Kingdom in 1967 as ...

but later rejected over concerns that there was a "significant possibility of legal action" under the UK's hate speech and libel laws. Douglas Murray criticised this decision and compared it to the 2006 controversy that prevented '' Alms for Jihad'' from being published in the United Kingdom. Industry self-regulatory bodies include the Advertising Standards Authority. In the wake of the Leveson Inquiry the

Press Complaints Commission The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) was a voluntary regulatory body for British printed newspapers and magazines, consisting of representatives of the major publishers. The PCC closed on Monday 8 September 2014, and was replaced by the Inde ...

(PCC), which had been the main industry regulator of the press in the United Kingdom since 1990, was wound up and most national newspapers now belong to the

Independent Press Standards Organisation The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) is the regulator of the newspaper and magazine industry in the UK. It was established on 8 September 2014 after the windup of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC), which had been the main ind ...

, established in 2014, refusing to sign up to

IMPRESS The Independent Monitor for the Press (IMPRESS) is an independent press regulator in the UK. It was the first to be recognised by the Press Recognition Panel. Unlike the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), IMPRESS is fully compliant ...

, the Leveson-compliant alternative.

Parliamentary footage

Proceedings of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

, and various Parliamentary Committees are broadcast on

BBC Parliament BBC Parliament is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel from the BBC that broadcasts live and recorded coverage of the House of Commons, House of Lords and Select Committees of the British Parliament, the Scottish Parliamen ...

an
Parliament's Web site
The Rules of Coverage released by the House of Commons Broadcasting Committee place severe limitations on the use of this footage, including a prohibition of its use in the context of political satire. For this reason, rebroadcasts of foreign comedy shows containing Parliamentary footage are restricted from broadcast in the UK, or the footage removed or replaced, often to comic effect.Helen Lewis Hastele
"Why our parliament is literally beyond satire"
''New Statesman'' (blog), 27 July 2011

Censorship by medium

Art

Art was often used as propaganda in Europe, often to point out political scandals but also to spread patriotism in times of need. More specifically, caricature was often used to satirise these events and people and bring attention to the artists' perspectives. Although censorship laws changed based on the stability of the monarchy and their opinions of the citizens, Britain was one of the European countries with the least amount of censorship in this area. During the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

, Britain was in fact the only country where such propaganda was free and legal. The most famous British caricaturists at the time included

Isaac Cruikshank Isaac Cruikshank ( bapt. 14 October 1764 1811) was a Scottish painter and caricaturist, known for his social and political satire. Biography Cruikshank was the son of Andrew Crookshanks ( 1725 c. 1783), a former customs inspector, dispossess ...

James Gillray James Gillray (13 August 1756Gillray, James and Draper Hill (1966). ''Fashionable contrasts''. Phaidon. p. 8.Baptism register for Fetter Lane (Moravian) confirms birth as 13 August 1756, baptism 17 August 1756 1June 1815) was a British caricatur ...

, and

Thomas Rowlandson Thomas Rowlandson (; 13 July 175721 April 1827) was an English artist and caricaturist of the Georgian Era, noted for his political satire and social observation. A prolific artist and printmaker, Rowlandson produced both individual social an ...

. Although all three caricaturists had different perspectives and opinions, they were the frontrunners in the push towards patriotism of the United Kingdom when the UK faced attack from

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

Film

Internet

Although freedom of expression and protection of privacy over the Internet is guaranteed by UK law, since about 2010 there has been an increasing shift towards authoritarian measures such as increased surveillance (The United Kingdom has more police surveillance cameras than anywhere else outside of China) and police action. Combating

and preventing child abuse have been widely used by state agencies and private commercial actors (e.g. Internet service providers) to justify the implementation of interception and direct filtering measures. Nevertheless, in 2010 the

OpenNet Initiative The OpenNet Initiative (ONI) was a joint project whose goal was to monitor and report on internet filtering and surveillance practices by nations. The project employed a number of technical means, as well as an international network of investigato ...

(ONI) found no evidence of technical filtering in the political, social, conflict/security, or Internet tools areas. The UK openly blocks child pornography websites, for which ONI does not test. 98.6% of UK internet traffic consume a service called the child abuse image content list which uses data provided by the

Internet Watch Foundation The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is a registered charity based in Cambridge, England. It states that its remit is "to minimise the availability of online sexual abuse content, specifically child sexual abuse images and videos hosted anywhe ...

to identify pages judged to contain indecent photographs of children.How net providers stop child porn
, BBC News, 7 February 2006. Retrieved 29 May 2006. When such a page is found, the system creates a "URL not found page" error rather than deliver the actual page or a warning page. In July and again in October 2011, the

UK High Court The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (Englan ...

ruled that BT Retail must block access to a website (newzbin.com) which "provides links to pirated movies". In September 2011, in response to the court ruling and with encouragement from government, leading UK ISPs are reported to have privately agreed in principle to quickly restrict access to websites when presented with court orders. In May 2012 the High Court ordered UK ISPs to block

The Pirate Bay The Pirate Bay (sometimes abbreviated as TPB) is an online index of digital content of entertainment media and software. Founded in 2003 by Swedish think tank Piratbyrån, The Pirate Bay allows visitors to search, download, and contribute ma ...

to prevent further copyright infringing movie and music downloads facilitated by the website. Soon after, the High Court ordered UK ISPs to block other websites linking to, or endorsing online "piracy", such as KickAss Torrents (kat.ph). Since the end of 2013 a rolling program has been in place to ensure that most households in the UK have pornography and other material (such as suicide, alcohol and violence-related content) filtered from the Internet by default unless a household chooses to receive it. This follows an announcement by the Prime Minister David Cameron on 22 July 2013. In addition to Internet filtering, the UK also prosecutes those who are alleged to be violating hate speech laws online. In particular, the

outlaws the act of sending "by means of a public electronic communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character". In 2017,

Alison Saunders Dame Alison Margaret Saunders, ( Brown; born 14 February 1961) is a British barrister and a former Director of Public Prosecutions. She was the first lawyer from within the Crown Prosecution Service and the second woman to hold the appointmen ...

, the director of public prosecution, announced the allocation of additional resources for enforcing it and the intent to treat online speech as equivalent to a conversation in person. In 2018, the

Sentencing Council The Sentencing Council for England and Wales is a non-departmental public body that is responsible for developing sentencing guidelines, monitoring the use of guidelines and assessing and reviewing a wide range of decisions relating to sentenci ...

began deliberating on whether to increase the maximum sentence for suspects with many

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

followers. Digital secretary

Margot James Margot Cathleen James (born 28 August 1957) is a British politician who served as Minister of State for Digital and Creative Industries from 2018 to 2019. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Stourbridge from 2010 to 2019. Elected as a Conserva ...

also outlined a plan to increase government regulation of social networks with possible penalties including 4% of the firm's global turnover. Culture secretary

Matt Hancock Matthew John David Hancock (born 2 October 1978) is a British politician who served as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General from 2015 to 2016, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from January to July 201 ...

elaborated on this plan and likened it to the controversial German law NetzDG. He was criticised for saying that a refusal by ten technology companies to send representatives to a meeting he held gave him "a big impetus to drive these proposals to legislate through". As of 2017, it was estimated that nine people per day were being arrested for online speech and other various thought crimes within the UK, with five leading to convictions. Some regulation of the Internet is coordinated through an online police presence. The Metropolitan Police Service's Twitter account for example, which has been online since 2009, has been applauded for its responsiveness. It has also been condemned for what critics see as police intimidation. In 2016, former IT consultant Paul Perrin expressed resentment over the level of attention given to

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

issues in the news. When an officer from an LGBT-specific account of the MPS joined the discussion, he or she allegedly revealed knowledge of Perrin's family members.

Age verification

Since March 2019, the

Digital Economy Act 2017 The Digital Economy Act 2017 (c. 30) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is substantially different from, and shorter than, the Digital Economy Act 2010, whose provisions largely ended up not being passed into law. The act addr ...

has given the government power to require certain websites to implement an

age verification scheme An age verification system, also known as an age gate, is a technical protection measure used to restrict access to digital content from those who are not appropriately-aged. These systems are used primarily to restrict access to content classifie ...

, under rules defined in the

Online Pornography (Commercial Basis) Regulations 2019 The Online Pornography (Commercial Basis) Regulations 2019 is a statutory instrument issued under the powers given by the Digital Economy Act 2017. It defines the criteria to determine which websites would have been required to implement an age ...

. , reports state that there is no firm date for the implementation of this policy, which has been beset by many technical problems. A BBC report described implementation of the scheme as being "in a holding pattern".

Literature

See also under "Laws on obscenity and sexual content" above. The Happy Land - Illustrated London News, March 22, 1873

In 1873, controversy over the depiction of

William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

, Robert Lowe, 1st Viscount Sherbrooke, and

Acton Smee Ayrton Acton Smee Ayrton (5 August 1816 – 30 November 1886) was a British barrister and Liberal Party politician. Considered a radical and champion of the working classes, he served as First Commissioner of Works under William Ewart Gladstone between ...

W. S. Gilbert Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most fam ...

and Gilbert Arthur à Beckett's ''

The Happy Land ''The Happy Land'' is a play with music written in 1873 by W. S. Gilbert (under the pseudonym F. Latour Tomline) and Gilbert Arthur à Beckett. The musical play burlesques Gilbert's earlier play, ''The Wicked World''. The blank verse piece op ...

'' led to the play's licence being revoked by the

. A censored version of the play was eventually allowed to be performed, but uncensored scripts, with the censored portions printed in all capital letters, were printed by the theatre's manager. The play became a smash hit.

The Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication i ...

, 15 March 1873, page 243 The novel '' Ulysses'' by

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

was banned in the United Kingdom in 1922 when it was declared obscene. Novelist George Orwell wrote several articles on

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

including an item titled ''The Freedom of the Press'' in 1943. It appears that this was a preface for his book ''

Animal Farm ''Animal Farm'' is a beast fable, in the form of satirical allegorical novella, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to c ...

'', but it is unclear if it had been deliberately suppressed or if Orwell himself chose not to publish it.

Any fair-minded person with journalistic experience will admit that during this war official censorship has not been particularly irksome. We have not been subjected to the kind of totalitarian 'co-ordination' that it might have been reasonable to expect. The press has some justified grievances, but on the whole the Government has behaved well and has been surprisingly tolerant of minority opinions. The sinister fact about literary censorship in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
is that it is largely voluntary. – George Orwell

Orwell went on to suggest that because both the UK and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

were members of the Allied powers at the time, this self-censorship was preventing valid criticism of the Communist regime. Orwell worked for the Ministry of Information during the war and used it as his inspiration for the

Ministry of Truth The Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Love, and the Ministry of Plenty are the four ministries of the government of Oceania in the 1949 dystopian novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', by George Orwell. The use of contradicto ...

in ''

Nineteen Eighty-Four ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (also stylised as ''1984'') is a dystopian social science fiction novel and cautionary tale written by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and fina ...

''.

Radio

Censorship of music on the airwaves was in effect the power of the BBC. (A full list of songs banned on the BBC can be seen here:

List of songs banned by the BBC This article lists songs and whole discographies which have been banned by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) over the years. During its history the corporation has banned songs from a number of high-profile artists, including Cliff Richa ...

.) Some songs were banned for containing sexually explicit lyrics, or promoting the use of drugs. Some songs were banned for political reasons such as

Paul McCartney and Wings Wings were a British-American rock band formed in 1971 by former Beatle bassist Paul McCartney, his wife Linda McCartney on keyboards, session drummer Denny Seiwell, and former Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine. Wings were noted for their com ...

song "

Give Ireland Back to the Irish "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" is the debut single by the British–American rock band Wings that was released in February 1972. It was written by Paul McCartney and his wife Linda in response to the events of Bloody Sunday, on 30 January that ...

" in the 1970s, or in the 1980s

Christy Moore Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore (born 7 May 1945) is an Irish folk singer, songwriter and guitarist. In addition to his significant success as an individual, he is one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts. His first album, ...

's, "Back home in Derry" since it was written by

Bobby Sands Robert Gerard Sands ( ga, Roibeárd Gearóid Ó Seachnasaigh; 9 March 1954 – 5 May 1981) was a member (and leader in the Maze prison) of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who died on hunger strike while imprisoned at HM Prison M ...

. In 1949, the " BBC Variety Programmes Policy Guide For Writers and Producers" (commonly known as "the Green Book") was issued by the BBC to its producers and writers of comedy. Among things absolutely banned were jokes about lavatories, effeminacy in men, immorality of any kind, suggestive references to honeymoon couples, chambermaids, fig leaves, ladies' underwear (e.g. "winter draws on"), prostitution, and the vulgar use of words such as "basket". The guidelines also stipulated that "such words as ''God, Good God, My God, Blast, Hell, Damn, Bloody, Gorblimey, Ruddy'', etc etc should be deleted from scripts and innocuous expressions substituted." In April 2013, after the death of

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

, the song ''Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead'' from the 1939 film '' The Wizard of Oz'', rose to number two in the

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

UK singles chart as many people bought the song to celebrate the former PM's death. The BBC refused to air the full song however, with only a small clip being played on the hit chart show.

Television

During

The Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

, ITV and

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

regularly stopped or postponed the broadcast of documentaries relating to

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. A '' Real Lives'' documentary for the BBC, ''At the Edge of the Union'', was temporarily blocked in August 1985 by direct government intervention from the then Home Secretary

Leon Brittan Leon Brittan, Baron Brittan of Spennithorne, (25 September 193921 January 2015) was a British Conservative politician and barrister who served as a European Commissioner from 1989 to 1999. As a member of Parliament from 1974 to 1988, he serv ...

which led to a one-day strike by the

National Union of Journalists The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union for journalists in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was founded in 1907 and has 38,000 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Structure There is ...

to defend the independence of the BBC. From November 1988 to September 1994, the voices of Irish republicans and

Loyalist paramilitaries Ulster loyalism is a strand of Ulster unionism associated with working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland. Like other unionists, loyalists support the continued existence of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, and oppose a uni ...

were barred by the British government from British television and radio. This necessitated the use by broadcasters of an actor 'revoicing' the words which had been spoken by interviewees or at public meetings by the affected groups. The case of '' After Dark'' – "the most uncensorable programme in the history of British television"Programme notes
for the academic conference, ''1984: Where Are We Now?'', held 23 April 2014 – is also relevant, specifically the unmade edition of the programme in 1988 with

Gerry Adams Gerard Adams ( ga, Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh; born 6 October 1948) is an Irish republican politician who was the president of Sinn Féin between 13 November 1983 and 10 February 2018, and served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Louth from 2011 to 2020. ...

. The ban was lifted a fortnight after the first

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reu ...

ceasefire, on 16 September 1994. The ban could not be enforced for the duration of election campaigns. An international academic conference on censorship noted other "'' After Dark'' case histories which bear on issues of censorship include the intelligence services, drugs, freemasonry, sex ... and

Oliver Reed Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 – 2 May 1999) was an English actor known for his well-to-do, macho image and "hellraiser" lifestyle. After making his first significant screen appearances in Hammer Horror films in the early 1960s, his ...

Video games

The introduction of controversial video games featuring photo-realistic images, such as '' Mortal Kombat'' and ''

Night Trap ''Night Trap'' is a 1992 interactive movie developed by Digital Pictures and published by Sega for the Sega CD. Presented primarily through full-motion video (FMV), ''Night Trap'' tasks the player to observe teenage girls having a sleepov ...

'', led to calls from the tabloid press for games to fall under the Video Recordings Act. The UK games publisher trade body

ELSPA The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie) is a non-profit trade association for the video game industry in the United Kingdom (UK). Ukie was originally founded as the European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), and the ...

responded by introducing a voluntary age rating system in 1994. The ELSPA ratings were succeeded by

PEGI PEGI () or Pan-European Game Information is a European video game content rating system established to help European consumers make informed decisions when buying video games or apps through the use of age recommendations and content descript ...

in 2003. Nevertheless, although games are generally exempt from the Video Recordings Act, those depicting sexual content, or gross violence towards people or animals, must still be submitted to the

BBFC The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of fi ...

for consideration. BBFC ratings are legally binding, and British law imposes stiff penalties on retailers who sell to under-aged customers. However, the Act was discovered in August 2009 to be unenforceable. The rating system is to be reviewed as part of the

Digital Britain The Digital Britain report was a policy document published in 2009, which outlined the United Kingdom Government's strategic vision for ensuring that the country is at the leading edge of the global digital economy. The Digital Economy Act 2010 wa ...

project. ''

Carmageddon ''Carmageddon'' is a vehicular combat video game released for personal computers in 1997. It was produced by Stainless Games and published by Interplay Productions and Sales Curve Interactive. It was later ported to other platforms, and spawned ...

'', in which the gameplay involved mowing down innocent pedestrians, was the first game to be refused classification in 1997, effectively banning it from sale. The game's publisher, SCI, had a modified version created in which the pedestrians in question were replaced by green-blooded zombies, which completed a successful appeal against the BBFC to overturn their original decision. The uncensored, unmodified version of ''Carmageddon'' was later released under an 18-certificate. In 2002 the

IO Interactive IO Interactive A/S (IOI) is a Danish video game developer based in Copenhagen, best known for creating and developing the ''Hitman'' and '' Kane and Lynch'' franchises. IO Interactive's most recent game is '' Hitman 3'', which was released in J ...

game '' Hitman 2: Silent Assassin'' was withdrawn by a number of retailers due to religious sensitivities. The area in question involved a Sikh sect that were depicted as terrorists involved in arms smuggling and assassination. It also involved a section that many Sikhs believed to closely resemble the 1984 massacre at the Amritsar temple. In 2004, the parents of a murdered 14-year-old boy blamed ''

Manhunt Manhunt may refer to: Search processes * Manhunt (law enforcement), a search for a dangerous fugitive * Manhunt (military), a search for a high-value target by special operations forces or intelligence agencies Social organisations * Manhun ...

'' as having been "connected" to the murder. It was later found not to be, as the game was found in the victim's home, rather than the killer's. Leicestershire police "did not uncover any connections to the computer game". The accusations prompted some retailers to remove the game from their shelves. Nevertheless, following this incident the sales of the game rose due to the free publicity from newspaper headlines. The sequel, ''

Manhunt 2 ''Manhunt 2'' is a 2007 stealth game by Rockstar Games. It was developed by Rockstar London for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 2, Rockstar Leeds for the PlayStation Portable, and Rockstar Toronto for the Wii. It is the sequel to 2003's ''M ...

'', released in 2007, was banned from being sold in the UK by the

. On appeal to the

Video Appeals Committee The Video Appeals Committee (VAC) is a body set up by the United Kingdom's Video Recordings Act. If a video or video-game distributor's work is rejected by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), preventing it from being legally sold in t ...

this ruling was overturned however the BBFC launched a successful

judicial review Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incomp ...

into the VAC's decision, forcing the VAC to reconsider its judgment. On 14 March 2008, the VAC again recommended that the game be released, a position to which the BBFC agreed. The game is now available.

Specific cases studies

*In 1795, the administration of William Pitt (the Younger) enacted the

Treason Act Treason Act or Treasons Act (and variations thereon) or Statute of Treasons is a stock short title used for legislation in the United Kingdom and in the Republic of Ireland on the subject of treason and related offences. Several Acts on the subje ...

and Seditious Meetings Act to suppress the burgeoning Radical movement calling for Parliamentary reform. Fearing a " Jacobin uprising" of the kind that had just been seen in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, the government censured reform societies such as the

London Corresponding Society The London Corresponding Society (LCS) was a federation of local reading and debating clubs that in the decade following the French Revolution agitated for the democratic reform of the British Parliament. In contrast to other reform associati ...

, despite no evidence suggesting that these organisations engaged in any illegal activities. * In 1963, in the ''

Profumo affair The Profumo affair was a major scandal in twentieth-century British politics. John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War in Harold Macmillan's Conservative government, had an extramarital affair with 19-year-old model Christine Keeler be ...

'', the government instituted criminal proceedings against

Stephen Ward Stephen Thomas Ward (19 October 1912 – 3 August 1963) was an English osteopath and artist who was one of the central figures in the 1963 Profumo affair, a British political scandal which brought about the resignation of John Profumo, the Sec ...

to stifle press comment under the sub judice rule concerning the sexual relationship between the War Minister

John Profumo John Dennis Profumo, CBE,( ; 30 January 1915 – 9 March 2006) was a British politician whose career ended in 1963 after a sexual relationship with the 19-year-old model Christine Keeler in 1961. The scandal, which became known as the Profumo ...

and Christine Keeler, who was having a sexual relationship with Yevgeny Ivanov, a Soviet Naval Attache and alleged spy. * In 1972,

Lord Longford Francis Aungier Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, 1st Baron Pakenham, Baron Pakenham of Cowley, (5 December 1905 – 3 August 2001), known to his family as Frank Longford and styled Lord Pakenham from 1945 to 1961, was a British politician and ...

and

Raymond Blackburn Albert Raymond Blackburn (11 March 1915 – 3 November 1991) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament for the Birmingham King's Norton and Birmingham Northfield constituencies. Early life Blackburn was born on ...

decided to pursue a matter of pornography classification for the film '' Language of Love'' into the Court of Appeal of

Lord Denning Alfred Thompson "Tom" Denning, Baron Denning (23 January 1899 – 5 March 1999) was an English lawyer and judge. He was called to the bar of England and Wales in 1923 and became a King's Counsel in 1938. Denning became a judge in 1944 wh ...

, MR, and lost the writ of mandamus against the Police Commissioner, who had refused to intrude upon the BBFC remit. * In 1977, the Sex Pistols' single

God Save the Queen "God Save the King" is the national and/or royal anthem of the United Kingdom, most of the Commonwealth realms, their territories, and the British Crown Dependencies. The author of the tune is unknown and it may originate in plainchant, bu ...

was "the subject of a blanket ban on BBC". *In 1985, the British government attempted to ban the book '' Spycatcher'' by

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...

officer Peter Wright because of the sensitive material it contained. Several British newspapers attempted to report on its principal allegations, but were served with

gag order A gag order (also known as a gagging order or suppression order) is an order, typically a legal order by a court or government, restricting information or comment from being made public or passed onto any unauthorized third party. The phrase may ...

s. They persisted and were tried for contempt of court, charges that were later dropped. *In 1994, 6 members of LGBT rights group

OutRage! OutRage! was a British political group focused on lesbian and gay rights. Founded in 1990, the organisation ran for 21 years until 2011. It described itself as "a broad based group of queers committed to radical, non-violent direct action and ...

protested against 6,000 members of Islamist group

Hizb ut-Tahrir Hizb ut-Tahrir (Arabicحزب التحرير (Translation: Party of Liberation) is an international, political organization which describes its ideology as Islam, and its aim the re-establishment of the Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) to resume Isl ...

at Wembley Arena. The counter-protestors were arrested for displaying placards in support of gays, Jews and women. *In 1995, Prince Charles obtained a court injunction that prevented his former housekeeper Wendy Berry from publishing her tell-all book about his marital troubles. After publishing her book "The Housekeepers Diary" in the United States, Berry left the UK to avoid contempt-of-court charges. *In 1999, 78-year old veteran George Staunton from Liverpool displayed advertisements for the

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...

bearing the slogans "Free speech for England" and "Remember 1939-1945". He was arrested and charged with racially aggravated criminal damages but the charges were later dropped. *In July 2001, 25-year old Daryl Barke, whose bakery had been in the family for 22 years was forced to remove a sign advertising that the store's bread was "none of that French rubbish". The police stated that they were investigating the sign under the

Race Relations Act 1976 The Race Relations Act 1976 was established by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to prevent discrimination on the grounds of race. The scope of the legislation included discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, nationality, ethnic and n ...

in response to an anonymous complaint. Barke protested that Essex police officers who shop at the bakery and a French Algerian greengrocer working on the same block all enjoyed the joke. *In October 2001, Harry Hammond held up a sign reading "Jesus Gives Peace, Jesus is Alive, Stop Immorality, Stop Homosexuality, Stop Lesbianism, Jesus is Lord". Nearby demonstrators attempted to physically remove the sign. None of them were charged but Hammond was convicted of breaching section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 and fined £300 with £395 in costs. Attempts to appeal were unsuccessful as Hammond died shortly after the trial. *In December 2004, controversy surrounding the play '' Behzti'' sparked violent protests leading to the play's cancellation. A controversial scene set in a Sikh temple included rape, physical abuse, and murder. Some members of the Sikh community found the play deeply offensive to their faith. *In 2006, 21-year old Sam Brown from Belfast was arrested for walking up to police while inebriated and asking "Excuse me, do you realise your horse is gay?" The police argued that these were homophobic remarks and tried to charge him under section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986. The charges were later dropped. *

British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right, fascist political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and its leader is Adam Walker. A minor party, it has no elected representatives at any level of UK gover ...

leader

Nick Griffin Nicholas John Griffin (born 1 March 1959) is a British politician and white supremacist who represented North West England as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2009 to 2014. He served as chairman and then president of the far-righ ...

and activist Mark Collett were found unanimously not guilty of charges of inciting racial hatred in November 2006. The pair had been secretly recorded making statements about Islam and immigration in a 2004 documentary. *In 2007, 19-year old Kyle Little from Newcastle was fined a total of £200 for barking at a Labrador dog and saying "woof" near police. He had his conviction overturned later that year with the judge remarking that "the law is not an ass". *On 15 January 2008 it was announced that the trial of Wang Yam, accused of murdering

Allan Chappelow Allan Gordon Chappelow FRSA (20 August 1919 – May/June 2006) was an English writer and photographer who lived in Hampstead, north London. He wrote books on George Bernard Shaw and specialised in portraits of writers and musicians. He was fou ...

, would be held ''

in camera ''In camera'' (; Latin: "in a chamber"). is a legal term that means ''in private''. The same meaning is sometimes expressed in the English equivalent: ''in chambers''. Generally, ''in-camera'' describes court cases, parts of it, or process wh ...

'' on the grounds of the administration of justice and national security. This was the first UK murder trial held behind closed doors. The UK press were prohibited from speculating as to the reasons for this order. *In 2008, the poem Education for Leisure was removed from the '' AQA Anthology'', after complaints were received. The poem explores the mind of a person who is planning to commit a murder. *Starting in 2008 the press were barred from printing the names of concerned parties in the murder of Baby Peter, a 17-month-old boy. Websites which published the names of the defendants and the boy came under police investigation for conducting an "internet hate campaign". On 10 August 2009 the ban was lifted. *The Twitter joke trial, which took place between 2009 and 2012, centred on a complaint by Paul Chambers about Robin Hood Airport being closed. It read "You've got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!!" Chambers was convicted of breaching the

before getting the verdict overturned on his third appeal. Public figures, including

Nick Cohen Nicholas Cohen (born 1961) is a British journalist, author and political commentator. He was a columnist for '' The Observer'' and a blogger for '' The Spectator''. Following accusations of sexual harassment, he left The Observer in 2022 and be ...

Graham Linehan Graham Linehan () (born 22 May 1968) is an Irish television writer and anti-transgender activist. He created or co-created the sitcoms ''Father Ted'' (1995–1998), ''Black Books'' (2000–2004) and '' The IT Crowd'' (2006–2013). He has also ...

and

Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...

supported Chambers. The final ruling read "a message which does not create fear or apprehension in those to whom it is communicated, or who may reasonably be expected to see it, falls outside this provision". *In March 2010, American Baptist preacher Shawn Holes was convicted of a breach of peace for remarks made in Glasgow. He opined "homosexuals are deserving of the wrath of God, and so are all other sinners, and they are going to a place called hell" in response to a question before the police received a complaint. The Catholic Church in Scotland and the Muslim Council of Scotland opposed the prosecution. *In April 2010, Baptist preacher Dale McAlpine was questioned by a police community support officer for the LGBT population and later arrested by another officer. The arrest concerned his pronouncement that homosexuality was sinful, which McAlpine says was not in his sermon but part of a conversation he had with a listener. After holding him in a cell for seven hours, Cumbria police released McAlpine and dropped the charges stating that they respected freedom of expression. *In 2011, a series of privacy injunctions, so called 'super injunctions', gained widespread attention. The press was barred from publishing details about various prominent individuals. One case involving journalist and broadcaster

Andrew Marr Andrew William Stevenson Marr (born 31 July 1959) is a British journalist and broadcaster. Beginning his career as a political commentator, he subsequently edited '' The Independent'' newspaper from 1996 to 1998 and was political editor of BBC ...

was dropped; another involving footballer Ryan Giggs became untenable, although many such injunctions remain in force. *In July 2011, highlights from ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form from ...

'', an American TV program, were not shown on Channel 4's More4 channel because showing coverage of the

in a comedic or satirical context in Britain is prohibited by parliamentary rules. American viewers were able to see the material. *In September 2011, public preacher John Craven was approached by two male teenagers and asked for his views on homosexuality. He allegedly declined to give his own views but stated that homosexual acts were considered sinful in

The Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

. According to reports, the boys subsequently kissed in front of Craven and reported him to a nearby officer. Craven was detained for at least fifteen hours. He stated that he was held "without food or water" and that his access to medication for

rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and hands are invol ...

was interrupted. Three years later, he was awarded £13,000 in compensation under the Human Rights Act 1998. *In October 2011, 28-year old Stephen Birrell was sentenced to eight months in jail for engaging in Scottish

sectarianism Sectarianism is a political or cultural conflict between two groups which are often related to the form of government which they live under. Prejudice, discrimination, or hatred can arise in these conflicts, depending on the political status quo ...

. He made posts to a Facebook page called "

Neil Lennon Neil Francis Lennon (born 25 June 1971) is a Northern Irish football coach and former player. During his playing career he represented English clubs Manchester City, Crewe Alexandra and Leicester City. Lennon moved to Celtic in 2000, where he ...

should be banned" which insulted Catholics and the Pope. Sheriff Bill Totten stated "the right-thinking people of Glasgow and Scotland will not allow any behaviour of this nature". *In January 2012, British communications regulator Ofcom revoked

Press TV Press TV (stylised as PRESSTV) is an Iranian state-owned news network that broadcasts in the English and French languages owned by Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), the only organization legally able to transmit radio and TV broadc ...

's licence to broadcast in the UK; it remains available via the internet. Ofcom found that the News channel's editorial control was based in Tehran, which breaches the

. This had come to their attention while investigating a Press TV interview with journalist

Maziar Bahari Maziar Bahari ( fa, مازیار بهاری; born May 25, 1967) is an Iranian-Canadian journalist, filmmaker and human rights activist. He was a reporter for '' Newsweek'' from 1998 to 2011. Bahari was incarcerated by the Iranian government fr ...

, given under duress, in which he 'confessed' that western journalists working in Iran were spies. A connection has been made by opponents of the decision with WikiLeaks cables suggesting the US and UK governments wanted to end Press TV's broadcasting licence in response to the Iranian government's jamming of the

BBC Persian BBC Persian ( fa, بی‌بی‌سی فارسی) is the Persian language broadcast station and subsidiary of BBC World Service which conveys the latest political, social, economical and sport news relevant to Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, an ...

Service and the

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

. * In March 2012, 20-year old Azhar Ahmed was arrested for writing "all soldiers should die and go to hell" on Facebook. The post was reported by the mother of a soldier who had been killed by an IED in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

two days earlier. District Judge Jane Goodwin called it "beyond the pale of what's tolerable in our society" and sentenced Ahmed to £300 and 240 hours of community service. Several attendees protested when she delivered the ruling and Paul Chambers, having been acquitted in the Twitter joke trial said "Glad all that fighting wasn't for nothing." * In May 2012, 21-year old Liam Stacey spent 56 days in jail for tweeting "LOL, Fuck Muamba. He's dead." The line referred to English footballer

Fabrice Muamba Fabrice Ndala Muamba (born 6 April 1988) is an English former professional footballer who played for Arsenal, Birmingham City and Bolton Wanderers as a central midfielder. Born in Zaire, Muamba moved to England at the age of 11 and subsequently ...

after a cardiac arrest which led to his retirement. After a large influx of criticism from other Twitter users, Stacey argued back with racial insults including "go pick some cotton". He was charged under the Public Order Act 1986 and apologised for the comments. * During the 2012 Olympics, diver

Tom Daley Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

retweeted a message that said "You let your dad down i hope you know that", insulting him for finishing fourth. Its 17-year old author was arrested on suspicion of "malicious communication" and given a harassment warning. * In August 2012, following publication of naked photographs of

Prince Harry Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is a member of the British royal family. He is the younger son of Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. He is fifth in the line of succ ...

, lawyers for his father, Prince Charles, issued threats of legal action. The photographs were not used by British newspapers or television stations after St James's Palace warned that the royal family regarded the pictures as a gross invasion of the prince's privacy. * In September 2012, Britain's royal household began legal proceedings against a French magazine, '' Closer'', that published paparazzi photographs of

Kate Middleton Catherine, Princess of Wales, (born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton; 9 January 1982) is a member of the British royal family. She is married to William, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne, making Catherine the likely next ...

, the Duchess of Cambridge and wife of

Prince William William, Prince of Wales, (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982) is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. Born in London, William was educa ...

. And on 18 September a French court ordered the magazine to hand over all digital copies of the topless photos within 24 hours and blocked further publication of what it called a "brutal display" of the couple's private moments. The case is the first of two legal actions, St. James's Palace said that family lawyers would also be filing a criminal complaint. * In October 2012, 19-year old Matthew Woods was jailed for 12 weeks because of jokes he made about two abducted children April Jones and

Madeleine McCann Madeleine Beth McCann (born 12 May 2003) is a British missing person who disappeared from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on the evening of 3 May 2007, at the age of 3. ''The Daily Telegraph'' described the disappeara ...

. The messages, including "Who in their right mind would abduct a ginger kid?" were copied from Sickipedia and posted to

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

. Although Woods was initially threatened with violence and detained for his own safety, prosecutors decided to charge him with sending a grossly offensive message, to which he pleaded guilty. Judge Bill Hudson opined that "there was no other sentence this court could have passed which conveys to you the abhorrence that many in society feel this crime should receive." * Also in October 2012, paroled criminal Barry Thew was sentenced to eight months in prison for wearing a T-shirt that expressed approval of police officers being murdered. This occurred shortly after the

murder of Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone On 18 September 2012, two Greater Manchester Police officers, Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone, were killed by Dale Cregan in a gun and grenade ambush while responding to a report of a burglary in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The inciden ...

. * In November 2012, Linford House, 19, was arrested in Canterbury under the

Malicious Communications Act 1988 The Malicious Communications Act 1988 (MCA) is a British Act of Parliament that makes it illegal in England and Wales to "send or deliver letters or other articles for the purpose of causing distress or anxiety". It also applies to electronic com ...

for posting a picture of a burning poppy on Facebook on Remembrance Sunday, accompanied by a message calling military personnel (squaddies) an offensive word. The act makes it a crime to send anything "indecent or grossly offensive, or which conveys a threat …

here Here is an adverb that means "in, on, or at this place". It may also refer to: Software * Here Technologies, a mapping company * Here WeGo (formerly Here Maps), a mobile app and map website by Here Technologies, Here Television * Here TV (form ...

there is an intent to cause distress or anxiety to the recipient". Nick Pickles, the director of the campaign group Big Brother Watch, argued: "Kent police need to urgently release this man and drop an utterly ridiculous investigation into something that has harmed no one." The teenager was not charged after he met and apologised to serving and former military personnel. * Between July and August 2013, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' newspaper was subject to prior restraint as well as property destruction by members of

GCHQ Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Uni ...

following its publication of documents relating to

PRISM Prism usually refers to: * Prism (optics), a transparent optical component with flat surfaces that refract light * Prism (geometry), a kind of polyhedron Prism may also refer to: Science and mathematics * Prism (geology), a type of sedimentary ...

, the

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...

and Edward Snowden. * From October 2013, The existence of the criminal case '' R v Incedal and Rarmoul-Bouhadjar'' was a complete secret until an application made by ''The Guardian'' newspaper. However, the details of the evidence involved and why the defendants were acquitted are still censored. The case involved Erol Incedal and Mounir Rarmoul-Bouhadjar who were charged under the ''

'' and the ''

''. "Accredited journalists" who were allowed to report the trial were denied possession of their physical reports (notebooks) and will be imprisoned if they publicly report their findings. The gagging order was upheld in February 2016 and censorship of the case continues. * In January 2014, ''The Bible: The Complete Word Of God (Abridged)'' by the

Reduced Shakespeare Company The Reduced Shakespeare Company (RSC) is an American touring acting troupe that performs fast-paced, seemingly improvisational condensations of different topics. The company's style has been described as "New Vaudeville," combining both physical a ...

was cancelled due to pressure from the Democratic Unionist Party and politician Billy Ball. Amnesty International condemned the campaign. * In April 2014, Liberty GB candidate Paul Weston was arrested after being reported by an audience member at a campaign speech. The complaint objected to his remarks on Islam which were quotations from a passage by

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

. The police later dropped the charges. * In May 2014, LGBT activist Gareth Lee requested a cake from Ashers Bakery featuring the characters

Bert and Ernie Bert and Ernie are two Muppet characters who appear together in numerous skits on the long-running PBS/HBO children's television show, ''Sesame Street''. Originated by Frank Oz and Jim Henson, the characters are currently performed by puppeteer ...

and the message "support gay marriage". The owners refused, citing religious objection, and were successfully sued for £500 by the

Equality Commission for Northern Ireland The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (Irish language, Irish: ''Coimisiún Comhionannais do Thuaisceart Éireann'', Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Equalitie Commission fer Norlin Airlan'') is a non-departmental public body in Norther ...

. The Bakery subsequently lost an appeal against the ruling. Columnist

Kenan Malik Kenan Malik (born 26 January 1960) is an Indian-born British writer, lecturer and broadcaster, trained in neurobiology and the history of science. As an academic author, his focus is on the philosophy of biology, and contemporary theories of m ...

criticised

compelled speech Compelled speech is a transmission of expression required by law. A related legal concept is '' protected speech''. Just as freedom of speech protects free expression, in many cases it similarly protects an individual from being required to utter ...

and stated that the bakers did not break the law because they did not refuse service to Lee or any other gay customer. Activist

Peter Tatchell Peter Gary Tatchell (born 25 January 1952) is a British human rights campaigner, originally from Australia, best known for his work with LGBT social movements. Tatchell was selected as the Labour Party's parliamentary candidate for Bermondsey ...

adopted this view after supporting the lawsuit previously. In October 2018, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled unanimously the bakers did not refuse to fulfill the customer's order because of his sexual orientation and would have refused to make a cake with this message for any customer, irrespective of their sexual orientation. Therefore, the Court ruled there was no discrimination on the grounds of the sexual orientation. * In December 2014, 19-year old Ross Loraine was arrested and cited for making light of the

2014 Glasgow bin lorry crash On 22 December 2014 a bin lorry collided with pedestrians in the city centre of Glasgow, Scotland, killing six and injuring fifteen others. The driver of the council-owned vehicle, Harry Clarke, said he had passed out at the wheel. A similar blac ...

on Twitter. The tweet, which he deleted shortly after posting, stated that after the driver's vehicle struck pedestrians, this was "the most trash it has picked up in one day". * In March 2015, 24-year old Scott Lamont was sentenced to spend four months in jail for singing ''

Billy Boys "Billy Boys", also titled "The Billy Boys", is a loyalist song from Glasgow, sung to the tune of "Marching Through Georgia." It originated in the 1920s as the signature song of one of the Glasgow razor gangs led by Billy Fullerton and later b ...

'' at a

Rangers FC Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland. The fou ...

game. Sheriff Paul Crozier stated "This sort of behaviour will not be tolerated, certainly not by me." Author Mick Hume condemned the

Offensive Behaviour at Football Act The Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012 was an Act of the Scottish Parliament which created new criminal offences concerning sectarianism, sectarian behaviour at association football, football games ...

under which Lamont was charged. * In 2015, 78-year old pastor James McConnell went on trial for making a speech in Belfast which described Islam as "satanic" and "heathen". Prosecutors argued that the speech was contrary to the

but he was eventually acquitted. * In 2016, 23-year old Rowan O'Connell was fined £275 with costs of £115 for self-described

trolling In slang, a troll is a person who posts or makes inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages online (such as in social media, a newsgroup, a forum, a chat room, a online video game), or in real life, with the i ...

that he performed on

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, imag ...

. The anonymous post insulted Mzee Mohammed, who had died that year in police custody, by calling him a "good for nothing, spice smoking

Toxteth Toxteth is an inner-city area of Liverpool in the historic county of Lancashire and the ceremonial county of Merseyside. Toxteth is located to the south of Liverpool city centre, bordered by Aigburth, Canning, Dingle, and Edge Hill. The area ...

monkey". * In April 2016, Scottish YouTuber Mark Meechan uploaded a video showing how he had trained his dog to raise its paw (similar to a

Nazi salute The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute (german: link=no, Hitlergruß, , Hitler greeting, ; also called by the Nazi Party , 'German greeting', ), or the ''Sieg Heil'' salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. Th ...

) in response to Meechan saying "sieg heil" and "gas the Jews". Meechan was arrested after sharing the video, with the video having been seen more than three millions times before it was removed by YouTube. Meechan said the video was intended to annoy his girlfriend. Meechan was supported in court by former

English Defence League The English Defence League (EDL) is a far-right, Islamophobic organisation in the United Kingdom. A social movement and pressure group that employs street demonstrations as its main tactic, the EDL presents itself as a single-issue movement ...

leader Tommy Robinson. On 20 March 2018, the court convicted him of a hate crime under the

, describing the material as "grossly offensive". Tory MP

Philip Davies Philip Andrew Davies (born 5 January 1972) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Shipley in West Yorkshire since the 2005 general election. A member of the Conservative Party, he is the most rebellious se ...

requested a review of freedom of expression in parliament in response to the conviction. Comedians Ricky Gervais and

David Baddiel David Lionel Baddiel (; born 28 May 1964) is an English comedian, presenter, screenwriter, and author. He is known for his work alongside Rob Newman in ''The Mary Whitehouse Experience'' and his comedy partnership with Frank Skinner. He has als ...

tweeted in support of Meechan. Tom Walker,

Shappi Khorsandi Shaparak Khorsandi ( fa, شاپرک خرسندی, born 8 June 1973), formerly known as Shappi Khorsandi, is an Iranian-born British comedian and author. She is the daughter of the Iranian political satirist and poet Hadi Khorsandi. Her family l ...

, and

defended Meechan and criticised other comedians for their silence on the issue. Meechan, who plans to appeal, was sentenced to pay an £800 fine ( which he refused to pay. The money was later seized from his bank account) on 23 April 2018. A crowd of about 500 people protested the move in London. * In 2017, 19-year old Croxteth resident Chelsea Russell quoted a line from Snap Dogg's song "I'm Trippin'" on her Instagram page. The line, which read "Kill a snitch nigga, rob a rich nigga", was copied from a friend's page as part of a tribute to Frankie Murphy who was killed in a car accident at age 13. Hate crime investigators were alerted to the presence of the slur and charged Russell with "sending a grossly offensive message by means of a public electronic communications network". Defence lawyer Carole Clarke stated that she received a request from one of the arresting officers that the word "

nigga ''Nigga'' () is a colloquial and vulgar term used in African-American Vernacular English that began as a dialect form of the word ''nigger'', an ethnic slur against black people. The word is commonly associated with hip hop music and Afri ...

", the subject of the trial, not be used in court. In April 2018, District Judge Jack McGarva found Russell guilty and delivered a sentence which included a £585 fine, a curfew and an ankle monitoring bracelet. However, this was overturned on appeal in February 2019. * In March 2018, Humanists UK criticised

Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls' School Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls' School is a state-funded Jewish secondary school for girls, located in the Stamford Hill area of the London Borough of Hackney, in England. The school primarily serves the Charedi Jewish community of Stamford Hill. ...

for censoring references to sexual orientation and women's liberation in their class materials. A description of '' Roe v Wade'' was redacted from a history textbook and homosexuals were removed from the list of groups targeted by the Holocaust. Ofsted indicated that it would take this criticism into account when investigating the publicly funded school. * In June 2018, the television show '' Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'' was not permitted to broadcast a segment about

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC ...

in the UK, as the clip contained scenes of debate in the

John Oliver John William Oliver (born 23 April 1977) is a British-American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. Oliver started his career as a stand-up comedian in the United Kingdom. He came to wider attention ...

, calling the restriction "genuinely insane and frankly antidemocratic", replaced the clip in the UK broadcast with

Gilbert Gottfried Gilbert Jeremy Gottfried (February 28, 1955 – April 12, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian and actor, known for his exaggerated shrill voice, strong New York accent, and his edgy, often controversial, sense of humor. His numerous r ...

reading three-star

Yelp Yelp Inc. is an American company that develops the Yelp.com website and the Yelp mobile app, which publish crowd-sourced reviews about businesses. It also operates Yelp Guest Manager, a table reservation service. It is headquartered in San F ...

reviews of

Boise, Idaho Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown ar ...

, restaurants. * In June 2018, Kingston Crown Court imposed a Criminal Behaviour Order on five members of

UK drill UK drill is a subgenre of drill music and road rap that originated in the South London district of Brixton from 2012 onwards. Initially borrowing heavily from the style of Chicago drill music before creating its own unique sound, UK drill artist ...

group 1011. The order restricts them from mentioning death or injury in their songs and requires them to notify police of video uploads 24 hours in advance and performances 48 hours in advance. The men, aged between 17 and 21, had previously been arrested with police saying that they planned to attack rival group 12 World with machetes and baseball bats. The 1011 members stated that the objects were props for a music video but pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit violent disorder.

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

and Index on Censorship both announced opposition the order. Youth worker Ciaran Thapar criticised it as ineffective while solicitor Elena Papamichael compared it to "blaming rock groups for drug use". * In August 2018, transgender rights activist Giuliana Kendal brought a

private prosecution A private prosecution is a criminal proceeding initiated by an individual private citizen or private organisation (such as a prosecution association) instead of by a public prosecutor who represents the state. Private prosecutions are allowed in ma ...

against feminist activist

Linda Bellos Linda Ann Bellos (born 13 December 1950) is a British businesswoman, radical feminist and gay-rights activist. In 1981 she became the first black woman to join the ''Spare Rib'' collective. She was elected to Lambeth Borough Council in London ...

for discussing the possibility of a fight between Bellos and her political opponents. * In October 2018, screenwriter

was given a "verbal harassment warning" for making Twitter posts that deadnamed transgender activist Stephanie Hayden. The exchange arose from a debate over whether legal recognition of a gender transition should require a medical opinion. * In January 2019,

community cohesion Community cohesion is a conceptual framework which attempts to measure the social relationships within a community. It relies on criteria such as: the presence of a shared vision, inclusion of those with diverse backgrounds, equal opportunity, and ...

officer Mansoor Gul questioned

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

ex-police officer Harry Miller over the fact that he had retweeted a poem that condemned gender transitions. While confirming that no crime had been committed, Gul stated that it qualified as a "hate incident" and told Miller that his employer might be displeased. Miller also reported that he heard the line "we need to check your thinking". Conservative MPs including

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

and

Martin Vickers Martin John Vickers (born 13 September 1950) is a British Conservative Party politician. He was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Cleethorpes at the 2010 general election. Early life Born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, Vickers was ed ...

criticised the police response. Miller subsequently launched a legal challenge which concluded in February 2020. The judge's ruling condemned the police for interfering with protected speech. * In 2021,

Viscount Portman Viscount Portman, in the County of Somerset, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 28 March 1873 for the former Lord Lieutenant of Somerset and Liberal Member of Parliament Edward Portman, 1st Baron Portman. He h ...

was sentenced and jailed for calling a male 'Jewish Scum.' *In September 2022, a British woman was arrested and charged for holding up an "abolish monarchy" sign at a proclamation ceremony for

King Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to a ...

in Edinburgh. Similar arrests throughout the country around this period over anti-monarchy

republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

sentiment have alarmed human rights groups.

Notes

References

External links

Campaign Against CensorshipEdmund Curll and his prosecutions
* (technical analysis of Cleanfeed)
Free speech now!
- a '' Spiked'' project
''Index on Censorship'': quarterly UK publication of intelligent writing about censorship and free speech''Liberty'' guide to the Obscene Publications ActOfcom websiteOfWatch: a site critical of OfcomThe Melon Farmers: anti-censorship websiteOpen Rights GroupTheatrical Bill Inspectors and the Licensing Act of 1737

UK laws regarding prostitution updated for 20061942 ''Life'' magazine article
with examples of photos censored by British government for wartime secrecy {{DEFAULTSORT:Censorship In The United Kingdom