WHEN did it become okay to offend people in the name of comedy?

I know what’s offensive can mean different things to different people. I understand it’s a complicated business, all tied up with notions of free speech and culture and internet regulation.

But doesn’t a line have to be drawn somewhere?

This week, a Scot called Mark Meechan was found guilty of a hate crime, after posting a video in which he repeats the phrase ‘gas the Jews’ 23 times.

Meechan did it to see how his girlfriend’s dog responded, and he also recorded the dog watching Hitler rallies, as he tried to teach it a Nazi salute.

Since the verdict, many people have leapt to his defence, claiming it went against ‘free speech’.

Comedian Ricky Gervais waded in, saying: “If you don’t believe in a person’s right to say things that you might find ‘grossly offensive’, then you don’t believe in Freedom of Speech.”

Nice soundbite, but I’m not sure that’s really true, is it?

People like Gervais, and rent-a-mouth Katie Hopkins, are impressively quick to defend people’s right to say anything they like whenever the targets are transgender people or people of Jewish or Muslim faith or migrants.

They seem less willing to debate when it’s directed at them, much preferring to throw a hissy fit and disappear off Twitter for a while, or block followers who dare to criticise.

This case is part of the bigger picture, of course, about what is said and shown on the internet and on social media.

The kind of misogynistic, homophobic,and obscene language directed at people like First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson and former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale is appalling.

The three women are throwing their weight behind Amnesty International’s ToxicTwitter campaign, which highlights the online platform’s failure to prevent violence and abuse against women.

Most right-thinking people believe in free speech, but they also know it’s just unpleasant to fire off racist or sexist insults, or mock people with a disability, or target anyone simply for being different. Even my 10-year-old understands that.

It’s time people stopped using ‘free speech’ as a defence for being downright nasty.