Should the British Prime Minister Consider a Possible Ban on Social Media?
According to Yahoo!, David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, is expected to meet with executives from Facebook, Twitter and Research in Motion (the company behind BlackBerry Messenger, a key organizing device in the spread of the riots) over the next several weeks to discuss a possible ban on social media.
“Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill,” says Cameron.
Cameron has told Parliament that the rioters are using social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to mobilize themselves and cause chaos.
“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, Cameron continues. “When people are using social media for violence, we need to stop them.”
British Prime Minister Considering Possible Ban on Social Media| Is Social Media the Bad Guy?
The London riots have initially been fueled by rioters using something not considered to be social media: the BlackBerry Messenger. According to the article:
Young protestors in Tottenham used the free instant message service–which requires BlackBerry users to exchange pin numbers–to mobilize their numbers during their clash with police because it is a private channel, unlike Facebook and Twitter. According to TechCrunch Europe, the BlackBerry is “by far the most popular handset” among British youth. http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/british-pm-david-cameron-considers-ban-twitter-facebook-150616849.html
The social media platform of Twitter has used to help the situation as well, as a Twitter feed called Clean Up London (@Riotcleanup) has more than 87,000 followers and is providing frequent, crowd-sourced updates on locations where volunteers are most needed.
British Prime Minister Considering Possible Ban on Social Media| A Poor Decision
British Prime Minister’s thought process on considering possible ban on social media is rather short sighted and misguided. The fact is that no one has been able to figure out exactly why these riots started, but shutting down and censoring social media sites isn’t the answer. Television reports and radio coverage may also be contributing to the riots as this is a source for people learning about it, but it would be silly to shut those media down. Social media is simply a tool of communication and shutting it down will have little to do with reducing crime or stopping the riots. I believe the government is simply looking for an excuse to censor social media.
Here is a telling quote from the Guardian from Cameron:
“David Cameron has told parliament that in the wake of this week’s riots the government is looking at banning people from using social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook if they are thought to be plotting criminal activity.”
Was this a quote from David Cameron or George Orwell?
Do you think that the British Prime Minister should ban social media usage due to these riots?