Even in the US, you can be sued civilly for hateful comments and jailed for comments that could be construed as inviting or inciting violence.
I don't know the full story, the tweets are gone and the BBC didn't reproduce them.
I don't know the full story, the tweets are gone and the BBC didn't reproduce them.
Also, "fighting words" is not simply inviting or inciting violence, it's "those that by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace."
Here's the Wikipedia article on US hate speech, they call out specific forms of hate speech which are illegal.
Second, it seems that your own link reinforces exactly what I said. Inciting violence is not a crime in the United States. Incitement to riot may be, but this is not what you said. US law requires an immediate threat of violence in order to censure speech outside of defamation and obscenity.
Incitement is a related doctrine, allowing the government to prohibit advocacy of unlawful actions if the advocacy is both intended to and likely to cause immediate breach of the peace.
You seem like you're reaching for something to argue about. "Yes, but you didn't use the proper legal term!" You also seem to be confusing the statement I made about civil suits vs what can be considered a crime. But, since two people have been willing to argue semantics in what is obviously not legal advice, I will say you must be right. I concede. Hateful comments could not get you sued civilly and inciting violence is not the same as advocating a breech of the peace. I guess.
Happens everywhere.
This is a British citizen who was jailed for things that he posted on Twitter that did not incite violence. This does not happen in the United States. This is unconstitutional in the United States.
I wasn't comparing the severity of the reactions though. I was just pointing out that tweeting can land you in trouble. It is _not_ like sharing something naughty with a buddy over a pint. People just need to be more cautious of what they tweet or put on their face book wall.
Irrespective of severity, the level of overreaction in both incidents is comparable (IMO). Deporting tourists because they tweeted something harmless in hipster-speak is a bit naff.