Nick Robinson: How the simmering row over freedom of speech in the UK reached boiling point1 day ago Share Save Nick Robinson Share SaveBBC"At what point did we become North Korea?" Tensions around the limits of free speech are nothing new and since the advent of social media in the mid-2000s, the arguments have been simmering. "People tend to prefer safety to free speech [online]," argues Anthony Wells, a director at YouGov. Even with its constitutional protection for free speech, plenty in the UK question what basis Americans have to lecture Britain on free speech, given the arguments they are having back at home. "Practitioners of me speech use the phrase free speech quite a bit.