Head of the Met Police Sir Mark Rowley has warned that “keyboard warriors” could be hit with terrorism charges for inciting riots online, even if they are living abroad.
Rowley made the comments in response to waves of rioting that unfolded across the UK following the murder of three young girls at a Taylor Swift dance class in Southport by a 17-year-old of Rwandan migrant origin via his parents.
Asserting that the “full force of the law” would be used against offenders, Rowley made it clear that this included not just people physically involved in the riots, but those who make inflammatory comments about them on social media.
“And whether you’re in this country committing crimes on the streets or committing crimes from further afield online, we will come after you,” Rowley threatened.
A Sky News reporter than mentioned Elon Musk as a ‘high profile figure’ who was “whipping up hatred,” when in fact Musk merely asked Prime Minister Keir Starmer, “Why aren’t all communities protected in Britain?”.
“What are you considering when it comes to dealing with people who are whipping up from behind a keyboard and maybe is in a different country,” the reporter asked Rowley.
“Being a keyboard warrior does not make you safe from the law, you can be guilty of offences of incitement, of stirring up racial hatred, there are numerous terrorist offences regarding the publishing of material, all of those offences are in play if people are provoking hatred and violence on the streets and we will come after those individuals just as we will physically confront on the streets the thugs and the yobs who are causing the problems for communities,” said Rowley.
This comes after authorities have warned Brits that merely retweeting information about the riots could lead to criminal charges.
Stephen Parkinson, the Director of Public Prosecutions, told Sky News that people do not even need to personally post the content themselves to be deemed to be committing an offence.
Parkinson said social media users could be guilty of “incitement to racial hatred” if they post “insulting or abusive” content that is “likely to stir up racial hatred.”
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