Teenager Arrested In England For Criticizing Olympic Athlete On Twitter | Hacker News Reader

Teenager Arrested In England For Criticizing Olympic Athlete On Twitter

guardian.co.uk

4 pointsneya8 comments

The title here is no reflection on what subsequently happened. This was no mere "criticism." After the initial tasteless and insensitive tweet there came an outpouring of vile, abusing, threatening, and downright nasty material.

This has been submitted here a couple of times[1][2], but the mainstream press haven't included anything but the most mild of the tweets. Copies exist elsewhere of some truly disgusting sentiments.

[1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4316070

[2] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4316294

I have more references if you want.

Edited for grammar and spelling.

Here is a complete conversation for those who enjoy some Twitterdrama

http://imgur.com/a/aHDr0

Thanks a lot for this; after reading the BBC coverage, it sounded like a complete overreaction. Regardless of whether or not this action was justified, the extended tweet lists certainly put it a little more into perspective.

The wording in this title has been changed to imply that it was an over-reaction. If you look at the actual title and what was said it wasn't 'criticising Olympic Athlete'

It was not just for the Twitter posts, but also his racist and homophobic YouTube videos.

Clickbait.

That's obviously a criticism, but it's currently a big story here in the UK. There's been a lot of vile twitter traffic around this, and someone has been arrested because of it.

This actually tracks into all sorts of privacy issues, and legal issues, and questions of what you can and can't say in media such as twitter (and facebook, etc.)

Do the racist, homophobic rantings of an individual enjoy the protection of "free speech"? When do taunts turn into outright bullying?

These issues have been around for ages, but with Twitter there is the "opportunity" for the pitchfork-toting mobs to get out after people. Where does the right of the individual to speak his/her mind end and the protection of those against whom vitriol is directed begin?

Oh it's an interesting story, but (like you were saying) the title was a bit misleading. That's all.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com