Joe Rogan says UK has ‘lost it’ over stat showing that 12,000 people were arrested for social media posts

Joe Rogan marveled at the amount of reported arrests in the U.K. over online speech as he spoke to a British comedian on Wednesday's "Joe Rogan Experience."

"More than 12,000 people have been arrested in the U.K. in the past year for social media posts. And if you read some of those social media posts, they're not even remotely terrifying," Rogan said. He went on to say that these are not calls to violence, but rather statements like "The immigrants are coming into this f---ing country and creating all this crime," which then results in a "knock on the door. 'You're going to jail.'"

"I worry that Americans think we're mad sometimes," Andrew Doyle, Rogan’s guest for the episode, said.

"We do!" Rogan replied. "We do now, yeah, we think you've lost it."

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Rogan was referring to a report from the British newspaper The Times, which claimed, "The police are making more than 30 arrests a day over offensive posts on social media and other platforms." The report added that "custody data obtained by The Times shows that officers are making about 12,000 arrests a year under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 and section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988." 

"We also think something happened where your leaders are intentionally trying to tank your country. It seems like they're trying to bring in as many migrants as possible, cater to them, not to the British people, and do it openly so that everyone knows what they're doing and then create chaos on the streets because of it," Rogan said.

"Yeah. I mean, people have a phrase, ‘anarcho-tyranny,’ you know, where you punish people who aren't breaking the law, but you protect those who are," Doyle replied.

Doyle noted U.K. laws are against "grossly offensive" speech, adding that he in turn finds such laws to be grossly offensive themselves.

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After the comedian mentioned an incident where a man was arrested for causing "anxiety" with a satirical image he made, Rogan scoffed.

"That’s the problem. You could find anything offensive. You could find anything grossly offensive if you’re extremely sensitive."

After noting multiple examples of legislation in the U.K. in recent years against offensive speech, Doyle observed that even the threat of police visiting to warn people has a chilling effect on speech.

"What I would say is, like, it's worse than people think insofar as the 12,000 arrested a year, that's horrific. But with the police routinely checking up on you if you commit a non-crime, that's sort of even worse, isn't it?" Doyle asked. He went on to note that in Scotland, police have a database of offensive jokes and that there have been bills to prosecute people for statements made in their own houses or in a pub.

Doyle marveled at the modern state of things, noting, "You've seen the viral videos of people, police coming knocking on people's doors saying ‘You said this thing online.’"

"It’s insane," Rogan agreed.

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One recent incident that gained international attention was when the London Metro police commissioner threatened to extradite and jail American citizens for offensive statements they made about political matters in the U.K., shortly after a riot occurred.