The Road to North Korea: How the UK and Australia Are Eroding Civil Liberties in the Name of “Safety,” By Paul Walker
Western democracies like the United Kingdom and Australia are sliding toward authoritarianism, echoing the oppressive control of North Korea over speech and thought. Nigel Farage's warning to U.S. lawmakers in September 2025, that the UK has sunk into an "awful, authoritarian position" akin to North Korea, captures a disturbing trend. This isn't exaggeration; it's a pattern of overreaching laws, arbitrary arrests, and institutional censorship prioritising "safety" over freedom. While North Korea enforces total information control through state media and brutal punishments, the UK and Australia are adopting subtler mechanisms: vague online safety laws that empower governments to police thought. This essay argues that both nations are on a dangerous path, eroding civil liberties under the guise of protecting citizens from harm, misinformation, and offence.
The UK's Descent: From Free Speech Bastion to Surveillance State
The UK's Online Safety Act, fully implemented by 2025, epitomises this authoritarian shift. Designed to protect children from online harms, it mandates platforms to remove "harmful" content, including misinformation, hate speech, and even legal but controversial material. Critics, including major tech platforms, warn it threatens free speech through heavy-handed enforcement. The U.S. State Department has flagged the Act as part of the UK's worsening human rights record, noting its chilling effect on expression. Farage, addressing the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, highlighted how the Act could lead to arrests of Americans at UK airports for online posts deemed offensive, impacting transatlantic trade and free speech.
High-profile arrests illustrate this trend. Graham Linehan, creator of Father Ted, was detained at Heathrow in September 2025 over trans-sceptic tweets, sparking outrage over police priorities and calls to review speech laws. Similarly, Lucy Connolly faced charges for social media posts. UK police make over 30 daily arrests for "offensive" online communications, totalling around 12,000 annually under outdated laws now weaponised against dissent. This mirrors North Korea's criminalisation of "anti-state" propaganda, where criticism leads to severe punishment. In the UK, bail conditions banning social media use resemble Pyongyang's information blackout, stifling debate on issues like gender, immigration, and politics.
The Act's age verification and content moderation requirements erode privacy and anonymity, forcing platforms to scan communications, a move critics call a threat to users' rights. Combined with two-tier policing, lenient toward some groups, harsh toward others, the UK risks becoming a state where free speech is a relic.
Australia's Parallel Path: Misinformation Laws as a Gateway to Control
Australia, often mistakenly viewed as freer, is not immune. The Albanese government's 2024 Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill, though shelved after opposition, resurfaced in 2025 discussions. It empowers regulators to define and penalise "harmful" online content, raising alarms from civil liberties groups. Critics argue it could chill speech by granting broad powers to mandate platform codes. Australia's eSafety Commissioner, who can order global content removal, has drawn fire for extraterritorial censorship. During COVID-19, lockdowns and vaccine mandates set a precedent: dissent was branded "misinformation," echoing North Korea's suppression of alternative narratives. The bill's vague terms could target political speech, with even mainstream media outlets warning it might curb legitimate journalism. Paired with digital ID and transparency frameworks, Australia risks a surveillance ecosystem where "harm" is state-defined, mirroring Pyongyang's control over truth.
Parallels to North Korea: A Spectrum of Control
North Korea ranks among the most censored nations, with total state media dominance and harsh punishments for dissent. While the UK and Australia score high on global freedom indices, their declining press freedom and civil liberties evoke early autocratisation. Farage's North Korea analogy resonates with commentators decrying these laws as threats to Western values. If unchecked, they could lead to broader suppression, as global reports warn of rising autocratic tendencies.
A Call to Reverse Course
The UK and Australia's march toward North Korean-style control isn't inevitable, but it requires action. Repealing or reforming online safety and misinformation laws, strengthening judicial oversight, and prioritising individual rights over state-defined "safety," are critical. Without change, these democracies risk becoming warnings, where freedom is sacrificed for control. The road to Pyongyang is paved with deceptive "good intentions"; it's time to turn back the tide of censorship.
"Nigel Farage today told US lawmakers in Washington that the UK is in an "awful, authoritarian position" and resembles North Korea as he highlighted the appalling treatment of Graham Linehan and Lucy Connolly. The Mail has more.
The Reform leader warned that Americans – including tech moguls – could face arrest at Heathrow over online content disliked by British authorities in the wake of the arrest of Graham Linehan.
Father Ted writer Mr Linehan revealed yesterday he had been detained at Heathrow over trans-sceptic tweets, sparking a row over police priorities and freedom of speech.
Mr Farage skipped Parliament's first week back after its summer break to give evidence to the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, which is investigating the impact of the UK's Online safety Act on US citizens. …
"At what point did we become North Korea? Well I think the Irish comedy writer found that out two days ago at Heathrow Airport. This is a genuinely worrying, concerning and shocking situation."
Mr Farage warned that the Online Safety Act "will damage trade between our countries, threaten free speech across the West because of the knock-on rollout effects of this legislation from us or from the European Union". …
Mr Farage addressed a Republican-controlled HJC session entitled 'Europe's Threat to American Speech and Innovation', which will "highlight how European online censorship laws – specifically the United Kingdom's Online Safety Act (OSA) and the European Union's (EU) Digital Services Act (DSA)-threaten Americans' right to speak freely online in the United States".
"It doesn't give me any great joy to be sitting in America and describing the really awful authoritarian situation that we have now sunk into," Mr Farage said."
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