Twitter 'should be taught at school'

By Claire Carter

His comments follow three people being arrested for using the site to post abusive messages to feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez, as well as a number of people falling foul of defamation laws through what they have written on the site. 

Mr Grieve said as many young people now start using Twitter when they are at secondary school, it would make sense for guidance to be built into the curriculum. 

He said: “All you need is a teacher who is inspirational and sensible and you can easily do it and say 'what are the rules about using social media?' I think that's quite an interesting idea." 

Mr Grieve said pupils need to be made aware that as their words are being published they are subject to the same legal constraints as journalists. He also warned that users could fall foul of foreign laws. 

He added: “Young people start using social media usually at secondary school so you could argue that something could be shoved into the secondary school timetable somewhere. 

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“And people should remember that is a form of publication, moreover, which the public has no control once it's gone out, you can leave control of its very quickly. I want the message to get home that social media is there to communicate but it doesn't give people immunity from the law of the land. There are some perfectly basic rules that newspapers have to follow and it applies to people on social media as well." 

Sally Bercow recently paid damages for libel to Lord McAlpine. She had named him on Twitter following a BBC Newsnight report that wrongly claimed a leading politician from the Thatcher years had abused boys living in care. Mr Grieve described the case as “perhaps a cautionary tale.” 

He said that sites could also publicise the risks for people posting on the site. 

Both Ms Criado-Perez and MP Stella Creasy were victims of 'trolls' on Twitter last week, as users posted threats to rape and kill them after Ms Criado-Perez successfully campaignerd for Jane Austen to appear on the new £10 bank note. 

Three men have now been arrested in connection with the allegations.