Twitter user sentenced to 150 hours of community service in UK for posting ‘offensive’ tweet

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

A user from the UK named Joseph Kelly was sentenced to 150 hours of community service for posting a "grossly offensive" message about a British Army officer.

Moore became a national figure in the UK after walking 100 laps around his garden before his 100th birthday. The Queen knighted him. The day after his death, Kelly said the only good Brit soldier was a deed one.

Kelly faced jail time after he was found guilty. His case brought attention to an often-criticized piece of UK legislation that allows social media users to be prosecuted for sending offensive messages.

Kelly was sentenced on Wednesday. His defense argued that Kelly had few followers on the social networking site at the time, that he had been drinking before writing the post, and that he deleted the post just 20 minutes after sending it.

He accepts that he was wrong. He didn't know what would happen. He took steps to remove the post, but the genie was out of the bottle by then.

Kelly was sentenced to 18 months of supervision and 150 hours of work in the form of a Scottish Community Payback Order.

The sheriff told the 36-year-old that he thought the message was offensive. As soon as you press the blue button, people will know that despite the steps you took to try and recall matters. It is important for other people to know how quickly things can get out of control. You are an example of that.

Section 127 of the UK's Communications Act is where Kelly was found guilty. The law was supposed to be used to prosecute people who said offensive things on the phone, but has now been used to prosecute people who said offensive things on social media. Hundreds of UK citizens have been found guilty under Section 127 for harassing and abusing public figures.

The UK's sweeping Online Safety Bill is set to replace Section 127, though critics worry that this new legislation will enable similar prosecutions to Kelly, with citizens found guilty of sending harmful messages.