(not satire – it’s the UK today!)

UPDATE: Twitter has finally succumbed to the criticism and reinstated @UKJCP – but you can see here the document which proves the UK government was trying to censor on-line criticism

Yesterday the government’s gagging law was passed by the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats – marking yet another nail in the coffin for freedom of speech in Britain.

And as if to celebrate the occasion, a Twitter parody account that was critical of coalition policies was closed down after complaints were made from government officials.

@UKJCP – a satirical account parodying the DWP – was suspended by Twitter yesterday.

Here’s a direct warning from the Department for Work and Pensions to @UKJCP just a week before it was suspended by Twitter:

“it is not satire”. So now we’ve not just got government departments deciding what forms of public criticism are acceptable, but also deciding for us what exactly is humorous and what isn’t.

This country’s getting more and more like China every day.

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Related articles by Tom Pride:

The document which proves the UK government is censoring on-line criticism

Singaporean hacker creates free program to bypass Cameron’s internet censorship

Satire like Porn? How 3UK are bringing Chinese-style political censorship of web to UK

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