David Cameron’s plan to shut down social networking sites to prevent disorder was ditched in a humiliating U-turn yesterday.
The Prime Minister vowed to look at banning thugs plotting violence from communicating on sites such as Facebook and Twitter or via instant messaging services such as BlackBerry Messenger.
All were said to have been used by rioters in the disturbances earlier this month.
But yesterday the Home Secretary Theresa May firmly killed off the prospect of any clampdown in the face of opposition from human rights groups and social networking companies.
In a summit with Facebook, Twitter and Research in Motion - makers of BlackBerry - the Home Secretary indicated that Mr Cameron’s plan did not even merit discussion. She told the firms that she was not there to talk about restricting internet services. Instead Mrs May appealed for help, seeking advice on how law enforcement could more effectively use social media.
Social networking firms are said to have advised police to employ internet monitoring firms to help keep an eye on public chatter on the web.
The Government’s retreat came after leading human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Index on Censorship, wrote to the Home Secretary voicing strong concerns about a possible clampdown.
The coalition of ten human rights and free speech advocates said in the letter yesterday: “We are very concerned that new measures, made in good faith but in a heated political environment, will overextend powers in ways that would be susceptible to abuse...and undermine people’s privacy.”
In the heated aftermath of the riots in cities across the country, Mr Cameron told MPs: “Everyone watching these horrific actions will be struck by how they were organised via social media.
“We are working with the police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality.”
And last week it emerged that the Acting Metropolitan Police Commissioner Tim Godwin had looked into switching off the sites during the disorder, but found there were no legal powers to do so.
However Nick Gargan, chief executive of the National Policing Improvement Agency, cautioned against any shutdown of sites such as Twitter. He said: “Clearly it would prevent some bad things happening, but I feel it would also prevent some good and beneficial things happening.” Earlier this week Home Office officials met with the NPIA to discuss how police could better “exploit” Twitter and Facebook.
Mr Gargan added: “Across policing and across the public sector there is an emerging realisation of the power, the potential and the risks associated with social media.
“We probably still need to digest the learning from the riots before we reach conclusions.” Yesterday the Home Office said the meeting had been “constructive”, adding: “The government did not seek any additional powers to close down social media networks.”
A spokesman for Facebook said: “We welcome the fact that this was a dialogue about working together to keep people safe rather than about imposing new restrictions on internet services.” - Daily Mail