UK govt to bar extremists views from appearing on TV, social media

London: Britain’s interior minister on Tuesday proposed new powers to bar people with extremist views from appearing on television or publishing on social media even if they are not breaking any laws. Home Secretary Theresa May told a conference of the governing Conservatives that if re-elected next year, the party will introduce civil powers to disrupt people who “spread poisonous hatred” even within the law. Under the proposal, police could apply for a court order to disrupt “harmful activity” by restricting an individual’s movements, preventing them from speaking in public or stopping them publishing articles online. [caption id=“attachment_1568615” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational Image. AFP[/caption] May said that only a minority of extremists are violent, but “the damage that extremists cause to our society is reason enough to act.” May said that at least 500 Britons have traveled to fight with Islamic militants in Syria and Iraq, and tough measures are needed to stop young people becoming radicalized. She said the new rules could be used against neo-Nazis and other radicals as well as Islamic extremists. The proposals will be included in the Conservatives’ election platform, but are not guaranteed to become law. The Conservatives currently govern in coalition with the centrist Liberal Democrats, who scuttled an earlier bill giving spy police and spy agencies wide powers to snoop on email traffic, Internet browsing and social media sites. May called the Lib Dems’ action “outrageously irresponsible,” and said the Conservatives would reintroduce the surveillance legislation if they win an election in May. Civil libertarians — and some Conservatives — said May’s proposed anti-extremist measures were repressive and potentially counterproductive. A ban on leaders of the Irish Republican Army-linked Sinn Fein party appearing on radio and television in the 1980s and ’90s led to their words being spoken by actors and is now widely seen as ineffective. Conservative lawmaker David Davis told the BBC that “we have to be careful we don’t end up like the people we are trying to defeat.” AP