The Northern Ireland Secretary has said ‘false information’ online will be clamped down on by Ofcom as part of new powers Labour is handing the internet regulator. All for dealing with “times of crisis“…
Hilary Benn criticised a second night of protest in Belfast last night: “If you are targeting people on the basis of the colour of their skin, how else can you describe them? That is racist thuggery. There’s no question about it at all.”
Ofcom said it had contacted X and other social media platforms because Labour ministers claimed violence “appears to have been incited online.” When asked what a “time of crisis” is on Times Radio, Benn said “that will be set out in due course” and confirmed that events in Belfast fall under the definition. He said people who put out “false information” will be targeted by new powers:
“If people are putting online false information – we have seen the chief constable spoke about this yesterday. We have seen people putting online addresses and the clear incitement is ‘that is an address you should go to because ethnic minority people live there’ and we have seen that in the past people being burned out of their homes because of the color of their skin. Now, it is not acceptable and it may well be a criminal offence depending on the circumstances as the chief constable made clear yesterday. It is not acceptable for that to be done.”
This is teeing up the government to take harsh action against ‘legal but harmful’ content online. Emergency brakes on free exchange of information and views when something out of the ordinary takes place…
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”