Is this a freedom of speech issue?

[Borachio]

Has Bridgers confessed? I didn't know that. The joke man pleaded guilty. Your news streams must be a lot faster than mine.

 

[innonimatu]

Has Bridgers confessed? I didn't know that. The joke man pleaded guilty. Your news streams must be a lot faster than mine.

Wait, sorry, I misunderstood this piece of news! As I said, just stumbled into this today. It does not say that he confessed anything, only that he "understood the changes" and was distressed.

 

[Borachio]

Even worse than being innocent, for Bridgers, would be being guilty. I wouldn't want to be him for...anything, really.


(Mind you, to be brutally flippant, I wouldn't want to be anyone but myself, anyway.)

 

[dutchfire]

Streisand effect already kicked in. So that people here know exactly what the arrestable offense was, the joke was "What's the difference between Mark Bridger and Santa Claus? Mark Bridger comes in April." In fact the joke wasn't even made up by that guy, he just posted it on some particular facebook page related to the search for the missing (murdered) child? Obvious remedy given that it was offensive in that place? Wipe it and ban him.

Tasteless black humor warrants prison in the UK? Just added it to my list of hellholes I'll never visit. And this is one case where the EU will probably be of some good use, as on recourse its courts will probably throw away this insane judgement.

That is a bit tasteless and I would understand if Facebook had decided to delete this, but it is silly to charge him for this, and the people who were threatening him over this should be prosecuted.