>The UK values freedom of speech but it is on a horizontal plane along with other rights and freedoms, NOT a vertical >one >with freedom of speech at the top. Hate speech not only gets you blocked in the UK, it gets you jailed, and quite >rightly in >my opinion. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/twitter-trolls-isabella-sorley-and-john-nimmo->jailed-for->abusing-feminist-campaigner-caroline-criadoperez-9083829.html

And this is how this works in practice, with relevance to Wikipedia and the issues under discussion here obvious:

 

US: Tape of sports team owner in major market talking with his mistress is released in which he makes racist statements, where said owner has some history of making similar statements in the context of his other business interests, and the group against which the racist statements are made constitutes a disproportionately large share of the league’s players and fan base. League commissioner bans him for life from league events, including his own team’s games; he is later forced to sell team (albeit at market rate).

 

UK: Chief executive of major sports league whose games and teams are followed by a worldwide audience as it is widely considered to have some of the world’s best teams in that sport has emails disclosed in which he talks about women, including some identifiable ones in the office, in a sexist, crude and juvenile way. He is not punished in any way as the emails were supposed to have been private and the woman he talked about (whose continued employment, coincidentally, depends on his goodwill) said she didn’t mind.

 

Daniel Case