TWITTER AND FACEBOOK ‘FUELLING WITCH-HUNT’
TWITTER and Facebook were last night accused of fuelling the Westminster witchhunt after they refused to remove copies of the sex dossier circulating on their websites.
It took reporters just seconds to find the list of MPs who have been accused of misconduct, without any of their names redacted. In some cases, the names of the alleged victims were also visible.
The document includes numerous unproven claims about ministers. Yesterday, the MPs involved were considering legal action against the firms for allowing it to circulate.
One of the ministers named said: ‘The claims against me are scurrilous and libellous. I hope they’ve got deep pockets.’ But the technology giants all but washed their hands of responsibility, arguing that the buck stops with users rather than the websites themselves.
Twitter and Facebook said that they would only remove posts where the names of the victims were visible.
They said the allegations did not break the websites’ privacy policies so they could continue to circulate.
But MPs – including those not mentioned in the dossier – insisted yesterday that the web giants should take decisive action to remove libellous lists. Damian Collins, the chairman of the Commons digital, culture, media and sport select committee, said: ‘Online organisations should resist the distribution of information which is libellous and defamatory.’
‘The social responsibility of companies like Facebook and Twitter to take action on content like this is something we will be looking at as part of our fake news inquiry.’
Yesterday, Twitter said users were responsible for what they posted as per their terms of service. Facebook said MPs can report any content that they believe is defamatory.
HOW the EU must be laughing at us. Today Britain stands on the threshold of one of the most momentous episodes in our history, comparable in significance to the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846.
Yet instead of getting to grips with Brexit, the political class is obsessing about such matters as whether or not First Secretary Damian Green lightly brushed his hand against a young woman’s knee in 2015.
Portentous statements have been made in the Commons. The Defence Secretary has resigned. It has even been absurdly suggested that the allegations of (mostly minor) sexual improprieties being bandied about on the internet are as devastating as the Commons expenses scandal of 2009.
Let the Mail be clear. Nobody abhors rape or sexual abuse more vehemently than this paper. These are profoundly serious crimes – and matters for the police, whom we fervently hope are investigating the claims by a young Labour activist that she was raped by a party official.
But with Brexit looming, haven’t politicians more pressing concerns than agonising over the kind of hanky-panky that has been making fools of middle-aged men since the fall of Adam and Eve?
Psychiatrists refer to ‘displacement activity’, meaning an obsession with the trivial to avoid dealing with the deadly serious. Doesn’t that perfectly describe what is going on in our country?
However, this affair does highlight one scandal neglected for far too long.
In just seconds, anyone familiar with Google, Facebook or Twitter can discover the name of every MP accused of impropriety – with consenting adults lumped together with members accused of unsavoury conduct. Even when asked to redact them, Twitter and Facebook refused.
Yet if a newspaper published names without proof or the consent of those identified, it could face vast libel damages.
How can it be right that reputations may be casually destroyed online, by anonymous complainants offering no evidence, while the Press is rightly restrained from administering lynch-mob justice?
Only when the law catches up with new technology can fairness be restored.
But first, there’s Brexit to prepare for. Is it too much to hope MPs will concentrate on the job that matters most?