British police have been accused of a ‘dystopian’ attack on free speech after an American woman was threatened with investigation – over her posts online.
Footage of the encounter has been seen more 1.3million times since it was posted last night and has sparked a furious response from campaigners.
It shows a woman, named as American cancer patient and Donald Trump supporter Deborah Anderson, being confronted in her home by Thames Valley Police.
The MAGA-backing mother-of-two was accused of ‘upsetting’ a person following an alleged ‘threatening’ post she made on Facebook, which was reported to police.
The officer declined to say which of the alleged posts had been complained about.
In the video, ‘elderly’ Ms Anderson then flatly refuses to apologise for her comments online before she is threatened with the potential of a formal interview at a police station.
The incident, filmed in June, prompted an intervention by the Free Speech Union (FSU), who last night claimed Thames Valley Police had since dropped the case. The force today confirmed no further action was taken over the allegations.
It comes as Britain faces fierce criticism over a recent clampdown on free speech, which has seen people being arrested, convicted or jailed over posts made online.
The issue has prompted concern from US President Donald Trump – who is in the UK on his state visit – and warned earlier this month ‘strange things are happening over there, they are cracking down… I’m very surprised to see what’s happening’.
Thames Valley Police has come under fire after one of its officers was sent to question an American woman over claims she had made a ‘threatening’ post online
The FSU described the encounter as ‘chilling’ and said: ‘What was Deborah’s supposed crime? The policeman didn’t tell her. Was it her passionate support of President Trump and the MAGA movement on her Facebook and X pages?
‘To make it worse, Deborah is in the midst of cancer treatment, including chemotherapy. She ought to be have been convalescing. Instead, she was harassed for her tweets.
‘Thames Valley Police are responsible for guarding President Trump this week. What would he make of the fact that those same officers are visiting the homes of his supporters – including US citizens – and threatening them with arrest?’
In the two-minute clip, a male officer is seen entering Ms Anderson’s property as she says: ‘You can come in but you’d better have a damn good reason for being here.
‘I’m a member of the Free Speech Union and I’m an American citizen… I’ll have Elon Musk on you so quickly your feet won’t touch (the floor).’
Sitting in a living room, the unidentified male officer tells the mother-of-two that something she had allegedly written on Facebook had ‘upset someone’.
‘You’re here because somebody got upset?’ Ms Anderson replies incredulously. ‘Is it against the law? Am I being arrested?’
The officer says she was not being arrested and goes on to explain: ‘My plan was, if you were admitting that it was you who wrote the comment you could just make an apology to the person.’
‘I’m not apologising to anybody, I can tell you that,’ Ms Anderson fires back, before the officer replies: ‘The alternative would be that I have to call you in for an interview.’
Seemingly growing frustrated, Ms Anderson hits out and accuses the police force of wasting their time on her.
‘Are there no houses that have been burgled recently? No rapes, no murders… why aren’t you out there investigating those,’ she tells the officer.
‘I haven’t broken any laws so you’re going to be wasting your time when you can be instead doing things that are more important.’
She added: ‘I’m a cancer patient. You can see that because I’m bald… I’m a woman living on my own, who has never broken a law in her life.’
The force was accused of wasting police time. It has since dropped the investigation, with no further action taken (pictured is the officer questioning Ms Anderson in her home in June)
In a statement, Thames Valley Police (TVP) said no further action had been taken and insisted it had a duty to ‘respond to allegations of threatening language’.
It’s not clear what the allegedly threatening comment Ms Anderson is accused of making was.
A spokeswoman for TVP told the Daily Mail: ‘In June, we received a report from a person who felt threatened by comments directed at them online.
‘Following engagement with both parties, no arrests were made and no further action was taken.
‘While people are entitled to express their views, it is the police’s duty to respond to allegations of threatening language and references to violence.’
In a statement, Toby Young, founder of the FSU, said: ‘I hope the fact that this happened to a US citizen means President Trump will raise Britain’s free speech problem with Sir Keir Starmer later today.
‘The Prime Minister is in denial about it and it needs someone of Trump’s stature to shake him out of his complacency. We need a complete overhaul of our free speech laws if we’re to avoid becoming the North Korea of the North Sea.’
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch this morning weighed into the debate, writing on X: ‘Well done, Free Speech Union. When did it become the police’s job to make people apologise!?’
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch this morning weighed into the debate,
The situation comes amid a growing row over a free speech clampdown in the UK.
Earlier this month, controversial Father Ted creator Graham Linehan was arrested by five armed police at Heathrow Airport over comments he made online.
The 57-year-old was detained by officers after being accused of harassing a transgender woman with abusive comments and damaging her phone.
In one of the three tweets cited by the police at the point of arrest, Linehan had written: ‘If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls.’
However, his arrest sparked a furious backlash from politicians and free speech campaigners – and even led to Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan police commissioner, wading into the debate.
Mr Rowley has said officers should not be ‘policing toxic culture wars debates’ and warned ‘policing has been left between a rock and a hard place by successive governments’, with the law offering officers no option but to investigate Linehan’s tweets.
Speaking to BBC News last week, Linehan said he stood by his posts on X and claimed he would be seeking legal action.
‘I don’t regret anything I’ve tweeted – sometimes I’ve tweeted a bit more out of anger, because of the frustration that no-one’s paying attention to this issue,’ he said.
Earlier this month, controversial Father Ted creator Graham Linehan (pictured) was arrested by five armed police at Heathrow Airport over comments he made online
Speaking about his arrest, he said: ‘I got very, very angry, because for eight years now, I’ve been standing up for women’s rights and trying to get people’s attention about what’s happening to kids in gender clinics.’
Last month mother Lucy Connolly was released from jail after spending more than a year behind bars for writing a ‘racist’ tweet during 2024’s summer riots.
The 42-year-old was jailed after admitting making the inflammatory post on X in the wake of the Southport attacks in July last year.
Connolly, who is the wife of Tory councillor Ray Connolly, pleaded guilty to a charge of inciting racial hatred and was handed a 31-month sentence in October, having been held on remand following her arrest last August.
The post, which she later deleted, said: ‘Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the b******* for all I care… if that makes me racist so be it.’
Connolly’s imprisonment had prompted allegations that she was a victim of ‘two-tier justice’, with claims that those with right-wing views are treated more harshly than others in the UK.
