A teenager in Britain has been found guilty of charges that she disseminated a “grossly offensive message by means of a public electronic communications network” — by posting rap lyrics on a social media site.
Chelsea Russell, 19, of Liverpool, posted some lyrics on Instagram from Snap Dogg’s “I’m Trippin'” to pay tribute to a 13-year-old boy who died after he was hit by a car last summer, the BBC reported. The lyrics said “kill a snitch n****, rob a rich n****.”
Russell was found guilty of a hate crime and must now wear an electronic bracelet to allow authorities to monitor her movements. She was also given a curfew from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. She was also given eight weeks of community service and ordered to pay costs of £500 and an £85 “victim surcharge.”
The Liverpool Echo detailed the case:
Angela Conlan, prosecuting, told the court that the words were posted to the bio section of Russell’s Instagram account, and then reported to police last year.
The content was then passed to Constable Dominique Walker, who is based within a specialist police hate crime unit.
The court heard that Ms Walker was the sister of Anthony Walker, who was the victim of a notorious race hate murder on Merseyside.
PC Walker told the court that she found the words on Russell’s Instagram account grossly offensive.
She said: “As a black woman I found the words offensive and upsetting. The words are offensive to both black and white people.”
PC Walker also asked Carole Clarke, defending, not to use the word n**** in the court because she found it so offensive.
Ms Clarke argued that the meaning of the ‘n’ word had changed over time because it had been popularised by hugely successful and popular rap artists such as Jay-Z, Eminem and Kanye West.
The conviction comes under Section 127 of the 2003 Communications Act, which states:
127 Improper use of public electronic communications network
(1) A person is guilty of an offence if he—(a) sends by means of a public electronic communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character; or
(b) causes any such message or matter to be so sent.(2) A person is guilty of an offence if, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another, he—
(a) sends by means of a public electronic communications network, a message that he knows to be false,
(b) causes such a message to be sent; or
(c) persistently makes use of a public electronic communications network.
That gives authorities much leeway in charging nearly anyone for offensive speech — and they have.
A Glasgow Sheriff Court last month found Scottish YouTube personality Count Dankula — real name Mark Meechan — guilty of being “grossly offensive.” Meechan was arrested in April 2016 for allegedly committing a hate crime by sharing a short video on YouTube. The video showed him teaching his girlfriend’s dog to give a Nazi “Sieg Heil salute,” and showed the pug named Buddha responding excitedly to the phrase “gas the Jews.”
He says the video was intended to be seen by just seven of his friends who follow his YouTube channel, Count Dankula, the Daily Mail reported. He taught the dog to act like a Nazi as “a joke intended to upset his girlfriend,” Newsweek wrote. “But he says the video was shared, by someone on the social media platform, Reddit, which led to the surge in its popularity,” said the Mail. The video was viewed some 3 million times.
Sheriff Derek O’Carroll on Tuesday told the court, “The accused knew that the material was offensive and knew why it was offensive. He would have known it was grossly offensive to many Jewish people.” He found Meechan guilty of sending by “means of a public electronic communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character.”
Meechan is to be sentenced April 23. He faces up to two months in prison.