This chapter examines antisocial conduct in social media platforms (SMPs) such as Facebook and Twitter, and how it has spawned cases of defamation, blasphemy, and incitement to violence. It first considers how social networking breeds gossip and speculation leading to invasion of privacy, citing the Ryan Giggs case in 2011 and its legal implications of postings on SMPs and comparing this with the later approach of the Supreme Court in the PJS case. The chapter looks at use of SMPs to make criminal threats and organize criminal activity, focusing on the Paul Chambers case and subsequent cases including R (Miller) v College of Policing. It then analyses cyberbullying, trolling, and harassment on SMPs and concludes by looking at plans to amend the communications offences.
Chapter
This chapter examines antisocial conduct in social media platforms (SMPs), such as Facebook and Twitter, and how it has spawned cases of defamation, blasphemy, and incitement to violence. It first considers how social networking breeds gossip and speculation leading to invasion of privacy, citing the Ryan Giggs case in 2011 and its legal implications of postings on SMPs. After discussing the Neuberger report and the joint committee on privacy and injunctions, the chapter looks at use of SMPs to make criminal threats and organize criminal activity, focusing on the Paul Chambers case and the Facebook riot cases in England. It then analyses cyberbullying, trolling, and harassment on SMPs, concluding with an assessment of the controversial movie that appeared on YouTube entitled ‘Innocence of Muslims’.
