According the the Telepgraph, it would appear that a teenager is among the first to be charged with using BlackBerry’s BBM service to encourage others to riot.
The 18-year-old girl from Essex has been accused of “Intentionally encouraging or assisting in the commision of an offence under the Serious Crime Act 2007”.
It is alleged that the BBM message was sent on Monday 8 August, and the message contents actively encouraged friends to emulate violence and looting across the UK. The unnamed teenager has been bailed and will appear in Colchester Magistrates’ court on 1st of September.
Yesterday we told you how UK Prime Minister David Cameron said in a Commons debate whether it would be possible to to ban potential offenders from being able to access social media such as BBM, Facebook and Twitter.
Home Secretary Theresa May will be holding meeting with BlackBerry maker RIM (Research In Motion) along with representitives of both Facebook and Twitter to discuss their responsibilities.
On Monday, RIM said it would be more than happy to help investigators “in any way we can”.
Let us know your thoughts on this, do you think it is a good idea to ban social media in situations such as rioting? Leave us your opinions below, or you can always tweet us instead if you prefer @Gadget_Helpline.