A US citizen undergoing cancer treatment in Britain says she was left feeling like a criminal after being confronted at her home by police over a social media post.
Deborah Anderson, who has lived in the UK for years and is a member of the Free Speech Union, believes the encounter was not about enforcing the law but about silencing dissent through intimidation.
As we reported, Anderson was visited by Thames Valley Police after someone filed a complaint about a Facebook post they found offensive.
The officer who turned up at her door, she said, made it clear the incident wasn’t criminal and no arrest would be made. Yet, she was encouraged to apologize for the post, despite the fact that even the officer couldn’t recall what the alleged offense was when questioned months later.
“I’ve never been arrested in my life. I live a very quiet life,” Anderson said, in an interview with Harry Cole. “I think it’s a bullying tactic to just get us to go, oh, gee, I’m an old woman. I’m no harm to anybody.”
The incident comes during an uptick in so-called “offense policing” in the UK, where complaints over online expression have increasingly led to home visits from law enforcement.
One high-profile case involved the arrest of writer Graham Linehan at Heathrow Airport after he expressed views on transgender issues online.
Anderson’s account points to deeper concerns about vague and selectively enforced speech standards.
The officer, she said, arrived unannounced early one morning and spoke to her about “malicious communication.” Initially thinking it was a delivery, she was shocked to be confronted by police over something she posted online, though no one would later be able to tell her exactly what the complaint was about.
“I let him in. I now know better,” she said. “It was just the most stupid conversation. It was like my mother telling me that I upset somebody and I really ought to go apologize. That’s what it felt like.”
After the visit, she reached out to the Free Speech Union, which advised her to obtain more details.
It took months before she heard back, and when she finally did, the same officer admitted he couldn’t recall what the issue had been. “He said, well, I’ve forgotten what it was now,” Anderson explained.
When she asked if the information was still on file, she was told it had been “filed” and was no longer accessible.
“I thought, my goodness, this country, there’s so many things going on in this country right now…and they’re choosing this?”
Anderson expressed frustration over how police time is being diverted to monitor political speech rather than investigate actual crimes. For her, the visit wasn’t about justice but about deterrence through fear.
“He said it wasn’t against the law… So I’m kind of like, whatever it was I said doesn’t matter. Because if it’s not an arrestable offense, then what are you doing at my door?”
The chilling effect, she argues, is the point. “Very much, very much,” she said when asked if she now self-censors. “I think these visits are about getting us to self-censor… But they picked the wrong old woman for that.”
Anderson, who is politically outspoken and a supporter of President Donald Trump, said her friends and family in the US are increasingly worried for her safety in Britain.
“Everybody’s kind of scared. Everybody’s aware of what’s going on over here, and they know it’s very different from what we’re used to back home.”
She warned fellow Americans living in the UK to be cautious, saying that while people may think the UK resembles the US in values, the attitude toward speech is shifting in troubling ways. She described the current environment as full of “vague” rules and arbitrary enforcement.
“It’s almost like if they’re not busy that day, then they’ll go see if they can… find some door to knock on.”
