Thought crimes and ID checks

New Zealand’s alarming march toward digital censorship

A retired British cop got arrested in May 2025 for what the authorities called a “thought crime”. No threats. No inciting violence. Just a tweet that rubbed someone up the wrong way. It sounds like something out of Orwell, but it’s real.

And if you reckon that sort of carry-on couldn’t happen in New Zealand, you might want to think again. We’ve got a hab…