Will a social media crackdown really stop future riots?

The riots of 2024 will be remembered for many things. One of them is the way the establishment spectacularly closed ranks on online speech. 

Metropolitan Police commissioner Mark Rowley said on Saturday that he intended to throw the book not only at rioters themselves, but at ‘keyboard warriors’ who might support them. The CPS, through the Director of Public Prosecutions, solemnly warned that anyone repeating inflammatory material online faced prosecution. Meanwhile, senior police were said to be trawling social media to hunt down those fomenting hatred and division. 

Action followed words. A number of ‘keyboard warriors’ who had said inflammatory things during the riots were indeed arrested, pleaded guilty and received some fairly stiff sentences. This has been much to the approval of the great and the good, who see a willingness to bring online speech under strict control as a vital part of the swift intervention to dampen the flames of the rioting.

Charges arising out of direct incitement to violence, or the deliberate planning of rioting or criminal damage, is both understandable and right.