Daily Updates with RF Rizwan Farrukh
No matter how good they are for socialising and promotions; studies have shown the number of crimes linked to Twitter and Facebook have risen incredibly in the past three years.
Figures have shown; crimes involving Facebook rose from 9,917 in 2011 to 13,019 in 2013, which show an increase by 3%. The Freedom of Information Act conducted data from 25 police forces in England and Wales, which showed crimes involving Twitter, rose from 174 in 2011 to an incredible 852 in 2013; this shows an increase by 90%.
Figures were provided upon request of being asked ‘how many reported crimes were related to the internet sites Facebook or Twitter’.
Think Tank Parliament, Steven George-Hilley said, “The government must do more to tackle this new wave of crime, which is often intrinsically linked to social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook,”
“Every police officer should be equipped with the very latest cyber skills backed up by tougher sentences for online offences to ensure criminals do not gain the upper hand,” he added.
Parliament Street also carried out research, which asked for information on reported crimes where the claims related to Facebook or Twitter in some way, or the social networking sites were mentioned in the key details of the offence.
The results follow a high number of high-profile cases, which involved abuse on twitter, including insults thrown at feminist Caroline Criado-Perez after she lead a successful campaign for a women to appear on a Bank of England note.
She said she had gone through a scarring and terrifying experience after Isabella Sorley, 23 and John Nimmo, 25 were jailed for assaulting her with rape and death threats.
According to Sorleys’ lawyer, she was also a victim of new technology and jailed for 12-weeks. Whereas, Nimmo; also known as ‘social recluse’ was jailed for eight weeks.
Director of Big Brother Watch, Nick Pickles, said that no superior attention should be paid to crimes committed online than those committed elsewhere.
A warning has been given to football fans about not venting on Twitter, with a number of arrests over anti-Semitic messages linked to Spurs games.
