There’s been a fun post floating about the interwebs over the last few days.
Want to know how many people got arrested for posting shit online in 2023?
United Kingdom: 12,183 (Oi! Wrong meme, mate…)
Belarus: 6,205 (Dictators gonna dictate)
Germany: 3,500 (Apparently efficiency applies to digital arrests too)
China: 1,500 (Shocking absolutely no one lol)
Turkey: 500 (Erdogan’s feelings are delicate)
Russia: 400 (Putin’s bot army working overtime)
Now the numbers are probably a lot higher now obviously but this comes in from various reports and cited from a publication called Freedom on the net.
Now usually I’ll just roll my eyes at these types of things, mainly cause a lot of it is just rage bait and annoying.
Although it’s becoming a lot more apparent everywhere and that’s just the tip of the scary iceberg of freedom.
This is also about why you need to stop fucking around and build that email list you’ve been procrastinating on since 2019…
On top of those stats. Poland, Thailand, Brazil, Syria, India, Iran, France, and yes, even the good ol’ USA with 50 arrests for online speech.
Fifty. In America. Land of the free, home of the Zuckcuckelonmuskerwhatever. Big tech is becoming insufferable.
This is the part where your stomach should drop, but most people ignore it.
You know what all these arrested creators had in common? They were building their audiences on platforms they didn’t own. Tweeting their hearts out. Posting their souls on Instagram. TikToking their way to internet fame.
Then…
POOF.
All gone.
Not just shadow banned. Not just demonetised. Fucking arrested.
Their content? Gone. Their audience? Ciao see ya later. Their ability to reach the people who gave a shit about their work? Obliterated faster than your up and coming 2026 New Years resolutions…
You’re sharecropping on digital plantations owned by billionaires who wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire.
Every post you make:
Lives on their servers, plays by their rules, survives at their discretion, reaches people through their algorithms and generates revenue for their shareholders.
You think you’re building an audience? You’re building their audience. You’re just the dancing monkey entertaining the crowd while Zuckerberg counts the ticket sales.
And when governments decide your words are too spicy, too honest, too inconvenient…
Guess who’s going to throw you under the bus faster than a greyhound chasing a mechanical rabbit?
I can tell you it’s not your followers.
Your email list is the only audience you actually own. It’s the difference between being a digital serf and being a digital sovereign.
Lists are portable. Platform dies? Your list survives. Account gets banned? Your list remains. Apocalypse comes? Your email provider might outlast the cockroaches.
Lists are also direct. No middleman. No interference. Just you, your words, and the people who chose to hear them. It’s the difference between shouting in a crowded mall and having a private conversation in someone’s living room.
Lists are super valuable. A 1,000 person email list that actually gives a shit about your work is worth more than 100,000 Instagram followers who double tap while taking a dump.
I’m not gonna harp on about how important building a list is. If you want to keep your sanity, work and income safe. An email list will get you there.
I’ll leave you with this though.
Every day you don’t have an email list is another day you’re vulnerable to, platform changes that kill your reach. Algorithm updates that bury your content. Account suspensions that erase your work. Government crackdowns that silence your voice. Corporate decisions that treat you like collateral damage.
You think it won’t happen to you? So did those 12,183 people in the UK who got arrested for online speech last year.
Stephen Walker.