Nik Sunil Williams
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nikwilliams.bsky.social
Nik Sunil Williams
@nikwilliams.bsky.social
1.3K followers 2K following 570 posts
Policy wonk at Index on Censorship and co-chair of the UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition. Works on FoEx, Anti-SLAPP and digital rights. Loves Joan Didion, Dinosaurs 🦕 & My Bloody Valentine. He/Him @indexoncensorship.org
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nikwilliams.bsky.social
What is the best way of identifying a fragile regime? When poetry is presented as a form of terrorism.

Mohamed Tadjadit should never have been arrested or imprisoned. He must be free
November 12, 2025 at 5:12 PM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
Sauchiehall Street has lots of vacant or closing shops. If we were to follow Trump's authoritarian logic should we be expecting the military to be called in?
November 11, 2025 at 2:48 PM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
Happy Birthday ECHR!

Your footing may be fragile right now and your legacy may be contested but my god you are needed now more than ever!

What a day to be in Strasbourg
Series of flags from Council of Europe member states against a shining sun and blue sky in Strasbourg
November 4, 2025 at 12:33 PM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
Always nice to stumble across a bit of personal film history when you are on a work trip.

The record shop from one of my favourite films, Before Sunrise where Hawke and Deply listen to Kath Bloom
October 24, 2025 at 6:36 AM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
I was proud to play a small role in the launch of this important report.

Now we need action. We need to level the playing field and we need an anti-SLAPP law to protect everyone who speaks out. antislapp.uk
Photo of Nik Williams, Lucy and Verity Nevitt outside the UK Houses of Parliament with a copy of the report
October 16, 2025 at 11:16 AM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
#Badenoch and #Jenrick parroting Trump-lite policies like a British ICE, purity tests for judges and restricted free expression and expecting applause...from a near empty room.

Here is a recent update from #Trump America
October 8, 2025 at 3:49 PM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
So the racist policy pipeline/human centipede is Trump at the front, Farage sandwiched in the middle and then Matt Goodwin at the end.
September 26, 2025 at 7:16 AM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
"It’s less about whether we are likely to win, as the impression it creates when we show that we really will take strong legal action…”

#SLAPPs do not only target the defendant - they send a signal to EVERYONE to key their mouths shut and to do this they do not even need to make it to court
In his email to Gill, Fane-Saunders made clear that the eventual success of any lawsuit was much less important than the message it would be sending. “We have to be seen to be taking strong legal action right now, even if, eventually, in the long term, we decide to drop it. It’s less about whether we are likely to win, as the impression it creates when we show that we really will take strong legal action…” Fane-Saunders wrote according to the court filings. Three hours later, Gill replied with an email that would come back to haunt her. “I agree it seems we need to take action against Mr Bjercke, or another suitable target to send a clear message which can be used for PR purposes.”
September 24, 2025 at 1:45 PM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
The docs reported on by @tbij.bsky.social give an unprecedented look into the workings of those that use legal actions and threats to silence criticism.

For instance, here the founder of Chelgate asks whether police officers could be sued for defamation, "it would be saying ‘put up, or shut up’."
In 2017, the net was closing in on OneCoin. So Carter-Ruck, with the encouragement of the boutique PR firm Chelgate, duly stepped up its “assault” on the scheme’s critics. In an email to Gill dated 12 April 2017, Chelgate founder Terence Fane-Saunders said the police probe could be defaming a company that had not been charged or convicted of anything. He asked whether the police “enjoy immunity in terms of Defamation law if they say these things within the context of an investigation? If not, then perhaps we could initiate an action? Essentially, it would be saying ‘put up, or shut up’. I think it would also cause great discomfort within the [City of London police] hierarchy.”
September 24, 2025 at 1:45 PM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
Was Carter Ruck anything more than a gun-for-hire for a cryptoscam? Without the Government actually doing something against #SLAPPs, the SRA can only do so much. We need an anti-SLAPP law without delay @tbij.bsky.social @edsiddons.bsky.social

www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2025...
September 24, 2025 at 1:36 PM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
Glad to see Grok supportive of an anti-SLAPP law. I wonder what it thinks about his overlord's legal actions against Media Matters in Ireland, Texas and Singapore?!
September 9, 2025 at 6:12 AM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
As someone who was taught to eat with my hands properly not too long after mastering🍴this - from a goddamn Congressman - is disgraceful and indicative of a Republican party purely defined by racism.
Tweet from Congressman Brandon Gill being insanely racist about Zohran Momdani stating that "civilised people in America don't eat like this" to a photo of Zohran eating with his hands
June 30, 2025 at 5:50 PM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
It is shit like this that should remind you that the MAGA Republicans do not care about free speech or the 1st Amendment at all, so lets stop pretending.
A screenshot of a tweet from Representative Andy Ogles that reads: Zohran "little muhammad" Mamdani is an antisemitic, socialist, communist who will destroy the great City of New York. He needs to be DEPORTED. Which is why I am calling for him to be subject to denaturalization proceedings. Attached is my letter to @AGPamBondi Below is the letter he send to the AG
June 27, 2025 at 9:14 AM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
Looks like the @washingtonpost.com Editorial Board received the memo from chief Bezos
June 26, 2025 at 6:16 PM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
This is the tweet that ABC suspended Terry Moran for after being pressured by the Trump administration.

If this isn't protected by the 1st amendment then it doesn't really mean much does it?
June 8, 2025 at 3:17 PM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
The Norwegian cheese slicer god didn't like my tone. Managed to slice my hand slicing into a brown cheese block
June 7, 2025 at 7:38 AM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
Me: Norwegian is a beautiful language

Norwegian:
Street sign with a triangle with two speed bumps inside with the text Fartsdump underneath
June 6, 2025 at 11:20 AM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
Lillehammer has nailed capitalism, they have an entire shop dedicated to cheese slicers
A shop front with Bjorklund on the glass and an oversized cheese slicer
June 3, 2025 at 3:57 PM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
Join @indexoncensorship.org & Some Great Rewards tomorrow on the southside of Glasgow to stand up for Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, listen to his music and celebrate the courage of the Women, Life, Freedom movement www.somegreatreward.scot/news/were-st...

#Iran #Hiphop #humanrights #Glasgow
A poster featuring a picture of Toomaj Salehi as a record sleeve advertising a listening party DATE: Thursday 29 May 2025 TIME: 18:00 - 19:30 LOCATION: Some Great Reward, Unit 2, The Cooperage, 674 Pollokshaws Rd, Glasgow, G41 2QE
May 28, 2025 at 5:40 PM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
As the world is upended I have been working on a fun if absurd side project - The Otherworld Times.

The central conceit is simple: if films invent worlds what are the investigative journalists in those worlds writing? otherworldtimes.wordpress.com
The Otherworld Times (tOT) started on the simplest of conceits – if films invent worlds what are the investigative journalists in those worlds writing? The hope is that this will open up films we know well to a new way of looking – what does Jurassic Park say about unchecked corporate power? Did the militarised FBI’s desire for fireworks and a disregard for collateral damage at Nakatomi Plaza actually aid the attempted heist of the century? What did The Rat’s leak mean for state secrecy and accountability after they restarted the rotation of the earth’s core? This is not journalism. I want to be clear about this. tOT is not investigative journalism – it uses the format and conventions of it as a storytelling device. That is it. When a journalist doesn’t have a source, they may not have a story – or at least they may need to approach it from another direction. When I don’t have a source, I can invent one for the purpose of the piece. I can write in someone, I can write out someone else. Invention is my friend, it is not a damning indictment of my journalist ethics.
April 18, 2025 at 4:11 PM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
Doing a weeding of the books ahead of redoing our floors and rediscovered this.

Thank god a free speech / protest crisis at Columbia is a thing of historical not contemporary concern, right!?
April 18, 2025 at 12:26 PM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
According to this Brussels advertising mash-up the true villain in the second season of The Last of Us is...Tintin
A photo of a building with a Last of Us advertising mural in the foreground with a large advert for Tintin in the background
April 9, 2025 at 6:32 PM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
Here's the Scottish Tories under Findlay's leadership taking on the Poundshop-Orbán role targeting an NGO to smear their opponent.

Here's hoping the Tories never get close to power. This is shameful
April 7, 2025 at 8:44 AM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
Sometimes it is difficult to visualise the impact of censorship - how do you show something that doesn't exist?

But sometimes it is easy.

www.voanews.com/live/audio/119

📣 Solidarity with Voice of America and Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty 📣
Screenshot of the Voice of America listen live page for VOA Newscasts. The player shows an error message saying "no live streaming currently available"
March 17, 2025 at 12:18 PM
nikwilliams.bsky.social
Yesterday a Georgian court ruled to keep Mzia Amaglobeli in detention. Today we reiterate our calls for her to be released #FreeMzia #Georgia

@coemediafreedom.bsky.social @globalfreemedia.bsky.social @pressfreedom.bsky.social @molenews1.bsky.social @fluturakusari.bsky.social
A group photo in Brussels with the participants holding signs saying "Free Mzia"
March 5, 2025 at 6:30 PM