It seems that all governments under threat fear communication media. Instead of the kill switch, Cameron of the UK seems to be proposing a narrower ban: social media use by miscreants. How does this work? Does the government know who is planning mayhem and who is not? Does it shut down base stations in affected areas, or does it target specific people? What is to prevent them from simply calling their friends about the next electronics store to hit?
More controversially, Mr. Cameron said the government was working on measures that would stop rioters from using social media — Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerry Messenger, principally — to coordinate and direct their “horrific actions.” Borrowing a leaf from authoritarian governments that Britain has been quick to criticize in the past for similar measures — China, Egypt and Libya, among others — he said his government had concluded that “it would be right to stop people communicating via these Web sites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality.”
Free-speech groups said restrictions on the use of social media or smartphones would be difficult to enforce and could violate basic freedoms.
“It seems like a bizarre and kind of knee-jerk reaction by the government,” said Padraig Reidy, news editor of Index on Censorship, a magazine that covers free-speech issues. “We’ve seen this kind of thing time and time again, especially with young people, when it comes to technology. Now it’s social networks and smartphones. A few years ago it was video games. Before that it was horror films.”
3 Comments
Abu Saeed Khan
This is how Telecom TV has responded.
Abu Saeed Khan
A top British Parliamentary body headed by Indian-origin MP Kieth Vaz has summoned the bosses of Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerry.
“Today I have written to the Chairmen of Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerry because it is absolutely clear that the new media had a role in the number of people who turned up at various places,” Vaz, Chairman of the influential Home Affairs Committee of the House of Commons, said here.
Nalaka Gunawardene
David Dickson, Editor of SciDev.Net and one of the seniormost science journalists in the UK, has written a powerful editorial titled
‘Social media: Don’t shoot the messaging service’. In it, he acknowledges that the recent riots in the United Kingdom have shown the dark side of social media, but we must avoid heavy restrictions on their use.
An excerpt:
“Instant, unrestricted access to information is therefore a mixed blessing. Like almost any new technology, social media can be used or misused. The political challenge is to design controls that discriminate effectively between the two.
“There is no case for draconian action. Indeed, even controls that may appear relatively benign in one context can take on a broader significance when they are quoted as a precedent in another.”
Full editorial: http://www.scidev.net/en/new-technologies/editorials/social-media-don-t-shoot-the-messaging-service-1.html
LIRNEasia CEO Helani Galpaya Shares Insights on AI and Labour at ISLE Conference 2026
Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming labour markets worldwide. In the Global South, however, these changes are unfolding unevenly, shaped by labour markets defined by high levels of informality, uneven social protection, and large skills gaps.
LIRNEasia CEO Helani Galpaya at the Global South Policy Dialogue: Securing Labour Justice in the Age of AI
As Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to transform the world of work, its impacts in the Global South present urgent and unique challenges. Unlike advanced economies with formal labour markets and stronger safety nets, many countries in the Global South face high levels of informality, limited social protection, and unequal access to skills and digital infrastructure.
Ashwini Natesan at Factum’s ‘Case for and against the Online Safety Act’ panel discussion
On February 26, Factum, with the support of the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI), officially launched a policy report titled “Online Safety’s Impact on Human Rights and Digital Governance.”As part of this launch, a panel discussion titled “Case for and Against the Online Safety Act” was organized.
Links
User Login
Themes
Social
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feed
Contact
9A 1/1, Balcombe Place
Colombo 08
Sri Lanka
+94 (0)11 267 1160
+94 (0)11 267 5212
info [at] lirneasia [dot] net
Copyright © 2026 LIRNEasia
a regional ICT policy and regulation think tank active across the Asia Pacific