Drunken Twitter and Facebook users who post grossly offensive messages online may be less likely to face prosecution if they hit delete and express remorse after they sober up, Keir Starmer, the director of public prosecutions, indicated.
Announcing guidelines for the prosecution of people who misuse social media, Starmer said he wanted to set a high threshold for prosecution in cases where people post "grossly offensive, obscene or false" messages and he urged "considerable caution" before bringing charges to avoid a chilling effect on free speech.
"If a message is taken down very swiftly and there is remorse then it may not be proportionate to have a criminal prosecution," said Starmer. "It is not a defence that you have sobered up but it is relevant that whatever the material was, it was taken down pretty quickly when the person realised it was inappropriate."
The Crown Prosecution Service is dealing with a rising caseload of allegations involving posts on Twitter and Facebook – about 60 in the last 18 months. It published a 14-page guide on prosecuting cases involving social media communications, partly to avoid a repeat of the so-called Twitter joke trial. A Doncaster accountant, Paul Chambers, was pursued through the criminal and appeal courts for more than two years for joking that he wanted to blow up Doncaster airport because it was closed by snow and he wanted to fly to see his new girlfriend.
The guidelines come into force on Wednesday and Starmer has drawn a clear distinction between grossly offensive, obscene or false posts and those that credibly threaten violence, harass or stalk and breach court orders such as anonymity for rape victims. He said the CPS would deal "robustly" with the latter categories of social media use which include trolling.
Source: The Guardian
