Social media laws to be discussed by Crown Prosecution Service following recent prosecutions
Social media laws in England and Wales are to be discussed by the Crown Prosecution Service; with lawyers, academics and representatives from social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook expected to attend.
Director of public prosecutions Keir Starmer QC told the BBC about the decision, stating that it is taking place to avoid a ‘chilling effect’ on free speech, following the uproar on Monday after Matthew Wood was jailed for 12 weeks for posting jokes about missing girl April Jones.
He suggested: "The emerging thinking is that it might be sensible to divide and separate cases where there's a campaign of harassment, [or] cases where there's a credible and general threat, and prosecute in those sorts of cases.
"And put in another category communications which are, as it were, merely offensive or grossly offensive.
"[It] doesn't mean the second category are ring-fenced form prosecution, but it does I think enable us to think of that group in a slightly different way."
It has been said that the new measures could be announced before Christmas.