This is pretty awful. It's interesting to see numbers attached to all the anecdotes I've been hearing:

Together, the 39 of 45 police forces that replied to the Mail's freedom of information (FOI) requests arrested around 9,700 people last year under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 and section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988.

However, the total arrest figures are likely to be higher, as six forces failed to respond to FOI requests or provided inadequate data, including Police Scotland, the second-largest force in the UK.

You have to wonder about the people enforcing these rules on the ground. I want to say that I would feel outraged to be told to go arrest some sod who said something mean on Twitter. At the same time, Covid and society in general lately have made me feel that it is far easier to slip into unreasonable attitudes than I had previously expected.