Five arrests in misuse of social media to incite riots

Potential prosecutions following Home Secretary's talks with Britain's top police officers on whether to crack down on IT during civil unrest

Following Home Secretary Theresa May's announcement of talks with top police officers and the industry over whether to crack down on the use of IT to co-ordinate attacks during disturbances, there have been reports of prosecutions for abusing social media to incite riots.

Ms May said at the start of the Commons emergency debate on the rioting that social media such as BlackBerry messaging was "used to co-ordinate criminality and stay one step ahead of the police".

She said: "I will be convening with the Association of Chief Police Officers, the police and representatives of social media to work out how we can improve the technical and related legal capabilities of the police."

She added: "Among the issues we will discuss is whether, and how, we should be able to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality."

But she admitted there was "not an open and shut case" as to what should be done in relation to social networking "because there is a positive side to social networking as well as a negative one".

She said it is important to convene a meeting with those involved to "sit down and talk this through in a sensible way".

Her announcement came after Prime Minister David Cameron raised the prospect of temporarily shutting down social media used to co-ordinate street riots.

Tory MP Tracy Crouch said closed networks such as BlackBerry messaging were more of a problem because while social networking had been heavily used to organise disruption, Twitter had also provided the police with the opportunity to track where future disturbances might take place.

Meanwhile, at least five people have been arrested, accused of misusing social networks such as Twitter.