Likely more of a “me” term than a national one. I interpreted your one line post in a couple different ways and not sure of the intended opinion but now that you have referenced a couple others with the same intent, I get it.
This issue has come up big-time for me again this week in relation to discussions around AI generated sexual imagery, involving speech or text prompts.
‘Protected‘ or permissible speech is, In my understanding, the bit that‘s left after rights to freedom of expression are modified by restrictions of law.
As @Calie pointed out, article 10 of the ECHR enshrines certain rights. Here is one statement within it:
“Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers."
Human Rights Act (1998)
There are also other laws that protect free speech in a more limited sense. Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act (2023) also protects the free speech rights of people in the context of study & debate.
In the UK there are also however, many statute laws that place limitations on freedom of speech rights, including;
The Public Order Act (1986), amended in (2023)
The Online Safety Act (2023)
And we can add to this, a patchwork of legislation, covering all sorts of crimes involving speech
Criminal laws commonly criminalise speech that is intended to commence or induce illegal activities, such as; fraud, bribery, perjury, extortion, threats, incitement, solicitation, and blackmail.
Freedom of speech has always had some such restrictions. Which is why I find so many freedom of speech discussions to be of disappointingly poor quality: people speak and behave within these debates as if freedom of speech should be a total and absolute right, when it never has been.
I feel there is good cause to reject this “absolute right“ framing of the debate. Free speech rights have always been weighed against the harms that speech can cause to other people.
Further to legal restrictions, there are also often social costs to using your ‘free speech’ rights.
Think that free speech will ever be an absolute & settled matter? I say think again. Can you really imagine a time when we look back and say “do you remember that time we sorted out free speech for good?”
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