London Riots and the Battle (or Hypocrisy) over Social Media

While riots in London and throughout the UK appear to have calmed down, an interesting remark by Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday set off a bit of a firestorm.

Speaking before an emergency session in parliament on Thursday, Cameron called for the censorship of social media due to its organizing force in the violence and chaos.

"Everyone watching these horrific actions will be struck by how they were organized via social media. Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill," Cameron said. "And when people are using social media for violence, we need to stop them."

Hmmm, sound familiar? The same arguments were used by leaders in the Arab world this Spring as demonstrators sought to topple their governments and organize revolutions on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Some (emphasis some) comparisons can be made in the youth unrest and alienation represented by the London mobs and protests in the Middle East, yet Cameron expressly supported the use of social media in those other countries' revolts.

In a speech in Kuwait in February, as reported by an Aug. 11 New York Times blog post, Cameron said "It belongs to a new generation for whom technology- the Internet and social media- is a powerful tool in the hands of citizens, not a means of repression. It belongs to the people who've had enough of corruption, of having to make do with what they're given, of having to settle for second best."

It's interesting how the tables are turned once the social media-organized riots are occurring in your own backyard. As the United States Supreme Court ruled in Brandenburg v. Ohio, I do not believe free speech extends to words and messages meant to incite immediate violence against people or property (which is already illegal in Britain as well). But apart from that it is not appropriate to censor social media use across a nation, even if that use leads to intended chaos and unrest.

It appears Cameron does not agree. With the riots calming down social media censorship is probably on the back burner now, but the fact that a developed, Western country even considered implementing such restrictions is both ironic and a little frightening.



Some well-done commentary by Peter Oborne of the The Telegraph: 
The Moral Decay of Our Society is as Bad at the Top as the Bottom