UK Police considered shutting down Twitter during London riots
If you can imagine what it would take to shut down an extremely popular micro-blogging service like Twitter, then you’ll know that the legality behind such a move is extremely cloudy, and the authority to act out a move like like it requires something said from somebody very high up on the food chain. As it happens, then, The Metropolitan Police in the UK considered shutting down Twitter during the London riots, which spread like a plague across major cities in the UK including Manchester and Birmingham. According to The Chief of the Metropolitan Police, they would have carried out shutting it down however were handicapped due to legal reasons.
Tim Godwin, acting commissioner of the Met Police, said during a meeting with the Home Affairs Committee that ”I contemplated seeking the authority to switch it off. The legality of that is very questionable. We did not request that it was turned off but it is something we are pursuing as part of our investigative strategy” according to The Telegraph.
During the London riots, tweets surrounding the topic went through the roof and it quickly became one of the most talked about subjects on Twitter for the duration of the attacks. Other social networking websites, such as Facebook, as of yet haven’t had a mention from the Metropolitan Police however two youngsters were jailed the other day for inciting violence on the social networking platform during the riots.
New powers are now being considered by the Police after social networking virally spread violence amongst rioters.
PS: Did you like this post? If so, be sure to leave a comment below.