Because of high-profile media cases like Lord McAlpine – The law on ‘what you can say’ through Social Media sites is increasingly on the agenda for discussion.
A total of 653 people faced criminal charges in England and Wales last year (2012) in connection with comments made on Twitter or Facebook.
These divided into offences committed on the two sites, such as posting abusive messages, and those which had been provoked by messages, including violent attacks.
Many of the offences, such as harassment or threats to kill would have been committed, albeit in a different way, before social media was invented.
Read the full story on the BBC News website http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20782257
