The article argues UK authorities are importing public‑health ‘prevention’ logic into policing speech: tweets are managed like risk factors, with interventions before harm occurs. Examples include Graham Linehan’s Heathrow arrest over posts and an NHS 'liaison and diversion' role to identify people at risk of offending before any crime.
— If speech is governed as a contagion to be prevented, states can justify preemptive censorship and reallocate police resources from crime control to thought control.
Tyler Cowen
2025.10.11
78% relevant
China’s Cyberspace Administration launched a campaign to purge content that incites 'excessively pessimistic sentiment,' treating mood as a harmful contagion—akin to the UK trend of governing speech with public‑health‑style prevention logic.
Ashley Frawley
2025.09.03
100% relevant
Five police detained Linehan on arrival, he was medically checked like a vector, and bailed on condition of no posting on X; NHS job ad to preemptively divert 'at‑risk' would‑be offenders.
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