Norway seeks new powers to police Facebook

‘Uniformed profiles’ would give officers access to private groups as they investigate crime online

NORWAY is considering introducing “uniformed police profiles” which officers would use to patrol Facebook looking for criminal activity.

Kripos, Norway’s National Criminal Investigation Service, is reportedly examining the legal aspects of how police accounts could be given access to areas of Facebook that are not open to the public.

It would mean police gaining access to closed groups and interacting with members as they search for evidence of criminal activity, the Norwegian newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv reported.

Wilhelm Due, a communications officer for Kripos, told the newspaper: “We have looked into the possibility of creating the accounts. But we have not decided whether it is something we should do.”

Släger Kommunikasjon, a public relations firm for Facebook in Norway, did not want to comment on police profiles, the newspaper reported.

Police in Norway and elsewhere have previously used fake Facebook profiles to investigate crimes including smuggling alcohol and tobacco.

Facebook has not given police profiles with enhanced access to private groups but they can apply for access to them in connection with criminal cases, Dagens Naeringsliv reported.

A Kripos spokesman, Superintendent Emil Jenssen, told Norwegian broadcaster NRK: “We get lots of tips on areas where bootleg, drugs or other illegal things are sold. Then we go inside these groups to preserve evidence for criminal cases.

“If there is a criminal case, we can go to court and get an injunction and send it to Facebook. They send us the information we need.

“We have the ability to do this in necessity as well if there is danger to life and health. [In these cases] it goes very quickly, often under an hour. In other criminal cases it takes longer.”

MPS in Britain have recently heavily criticised Facebook and other technology firms for allowing illegal material to spread to millions of people online. The Home Affairs Committee accused Facebook, Google and Twitter of being “completely irresponsible” and said the technology companies should pay for investigations into crimes involving their networks.

Earlier this month, Facebook announced it was hiring thousands of human reviewers to censor content following widespread criticism of the social network’s failure to take down violent and illegal posts.

Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook chief executive, said it would add 3,000 moderators, which would double the number of people currently employed to look for material including terrorist propaganda and hate speech that has been posted on the network.

The decision to employ more moderators came after two video posts last month showed killings in Thailand and the United States.

In Germany, politicians have threatened fines if Facebook cannot remove at least 70 per cent of offending posts within 24 hours.

Mr Zuckerberg said recently he wanted to “double down” to provide a “safe experience for the community” and Facebook would keep working with community groups and the police to this end.