According to one observer, Labour’s manifesto contains 27 references to new offices, regulators, quangos, councils and authorities. One of those includes the promise of “further measures to keep everyone safe online, particularly when using social media”. Which sounds wonderful. Who could be opposed to that?

The problem, of course, is what “safe” means. It is one of the immutable facts of repressive legislation that it is always claimed to be beneficial. And if you want to see what happens when a party as in thrall to progressive norms as Labour regulates online safety, look at Canada under Justin Trudeau’s Liberals. 

Sure enough, the Online Harms Bill, which was introduced in the Canadian parliament in February, has the stated aim of protecting children from online victimisation. In reality, however, it is a horrifyingly authoritarian bill which criminalises thoughts deemed to be hateful, and which serves as a warning as to what a similarly minded Labour government may decide to do.

Under the bill, any communication that is deemed “likely to foment detestation or vilification” on the basis of race, religion, gender or other protected categories is criminalised.