The story of the Defamation Act 2013

Four years ago I organised a pub meeting. It got out of control and became a #LibelReform campaign. Join us tomorrow: http://t.co/8ZaLDoW9F9
— Jack of Kent (@JackofKent) May 15, 2013

The modern movement to reform the law of libel in the UK began after Simon Singh was sued (2008-2010) by the British Chiropractic Association. An action described by David Allen Green as "misinformed" and "illiberal". An action commenced after Singh wrote an article in the Guardian saying that chiropractors who said they could treat children's colic and other ailments by manipulation of the spine were “bogus”.

A campaign emerged to support Signh who faced ruinous damage payments. The campaign was transformed by the charity Sense About Science and by English Pen and Index on Censorship. From this emerged "the Libel Reform Campaign". The three leading political parties backed libel reform in the 2010 general election. Via David Allen Green (@JackofKent).

@JackofKent - Tweeting abuse could mean immediate custodial sentence

Suggest that anyone in England and Wales should really read http://t.co/YNR74PJWWL before tweeting abuse. Immediate custodial sentences.
— Jack of Kent (@JackofKent) January 24, 2014

David Allen Green on social media regulation

The Financial Times legal blogger David Allen Green (@DavidAllenGreen) wrote about social media regulation in The New Statesman. My previous post on Allen Green's move from the New Statesman to the FT can be read here. He said here on social media self-regulation:

"Social media provides the means by which clusters of like-minded individuals can easily swap ideas and scrutinise data on public matters. In this way, social media users can hold politicians and media outlets to account in a manner not possible -- or conceivable -- until a few years ago. Instead of a politician saying something forgotten the day after, or a reporter's bylined piece being in next day's fish-and-chip paper, those involved in social media can pore over details and make connections weeks and months later. Transgressions can be linked to and accumulated. A speech or a byline can now come back and haunt you long after you have "moved on". 

As long as there are those willing to promote such accountability then politicians and media professionals can now be subjected to on-going and sometimes intense examination. The effect of this may be to make those with political and media power more responsible; it will certainly mean that it is more straight-forward and more likely that individuals can be called out for any wrong-doing. On this basis it is not those in power who will be regulating social media, but social media regulating those in power. 

Once social media is understood as an advanced form of active citizenship then it can become part of the solution to the problem of abuses of political and media power; not part of the problem to be addressed by regulation. Regardless of the self-serving caricatures promoted by some in the media, the record of bloggers and tweeters compares rather well to tabloid excesses. In the medium- to longer- term, it is clear that those in mainstream media who work with social media will tend to produce better output.