Home Secretary Theresa May is to meet social media companies to explore blocking access during emergency situations, in the wake of this week’s mass looting and violence which it is claimed has been fuelled by online messaging services.
The plans were revealed by Prime Minister David Cameron in the Commons today (August 11), who is also calling on police chiefs to tell him that they require the power to close services including Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger.
Cameron said: “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. When people are using social media for violence, we need to stop them.”
If enacted, the new powers could spark civil liberty concerns as they would move the UK closer to rules in some Middle East countries, which exercise a high degree of control of BBM for instance.
Several people – including some in Southampton and Cardiff – have been arrested after being suspected of using social media to incite criminal activities. Cameron added that people had also used Twitter to mobilise community clean-ups as well as for “ill”.
