Social media users given legal advice
The Government’s chief legal advisor will in future issue advisory notices to Twitter and Facebook users to help prevent them committing a contempt of court.
The advice has previously only been issued to journalists on a ‘not for publication basis’ is designed to make to make sure a fair trial takes place will warn people not to comment on certain aspects of court cases.
The advice from the Attorney General, Dominic Grieve QC MP will be published over twitter and on the Government website, gov.uk.
The change in policy is designed to help inform the public about the legal pitfalls of commenting in a way which could be seen as prejudicial to a court case or those involved.
The Attorney General has issued ten media advisories so far this year, the most ever issued by the Attorney General’s Office. previously only around five advisories were published a year.
Advisories have previously been issued around cases such as: the murder of Tia Sharp, Sgt Danny Nightingale’s Court Martial and the arrest of Christopher Jefferies.
The announcement also follows several high profile instances of twitter users breaching court orders.
Earlier this month a man was found to be in contempt of court after posting photos which appeared to be an adult Jon Venables, one of Jaimie Bulger’s killers.
Last week Peaches Geldof apologised for naming a woman she believed to be connected to the trial of former Lost Prophets front man Ian Watkins.
The woman however is protected by lifelong anonymity agreement meaning naming her would breach a court order.
Attorney General Dominic Grieve QC MP said: “Blogs and social media sites like Twitter and Facebook mean that individuals can now reach thousands of people with a single tweet or post.
“This is an exciting prospect, but it can pose certain challenges to the criminal justice system.
“In days gone by, it was only the mainstream media that had the opportunity to bring information relating to a court case to such a large group of people that it could put a court case at risk.
“That is no longer the case, and is why I have decided to publish the advisories that I have previously only issued to the media.
“This is not about telling people what they can or cannot talk about on social media; quite the opposite in fact, it’s designed to help facilitate commentary in a lawful way.
“I hope that by making this information available to the public at large, we can help stop people from inadvertently breaking the law, and make sure that cases are tried on the evidence, not what people have found online.
“This change also brings more openness to Government’s dealings with the media so that both sides can be accountable to the public for what they do and say.”
The advisories will be published on the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) section of the gov.uk website and also through the AGO’s twitter feed, @AGO_UK
