PM attacks Moat tribute on Facebook

David Cameron has fallen out with Facebook over its refusal to remove a tribute page to Raoul Moat, just days after the prime minister lauded the social network as a forum for political participation.

More than 30,000 people have joined a Facebook group entitled “RIP Raoul Moat you legend!” The alleged murderer shot himself after a manhunt in Northumbria last week.

During prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, a Conservative MP suggested to Mr Cameron that Facebook should remove the page. Mr Cameron said it was a “very good point”, and that there should be “no sympathy” for Mr Moat.

But after being contacted by Number 10, Facebook refused to take down the page because it does not contravene its terms of use. The online debate is a “healthy discussion”, Facebook argued, which is little different to conversations conducted in the pub, at work, over the phone or elsewhere on the web.

“Facebook is a place where people can express their views and discuss things in an open way as they can and do in many other places, and as such we sometimes find people discussing topics others may find distasteful, however that is not a reason in itself to stop a debate from happening,” Facebook said.

“We have 26m people on Facebook in the UK, each of which has their own opinion, and they are entitled to express their views on Facebook as long as their comments do not violate our terms. We believe that enabling people to have these different opinions and debate about a topic can help bring together lots of different views for a healthy discussion.”

Under Facebook’s terms of service, users are permitted to discuss public figures such as celebrities and politicians, unless they threaten violence or other illegal actions. Members are also permitted to express personal opinions about an institution; several postings on the tribute page to Mr Moat were highly critical of the police.

The spat followed government efforts to demonstrate its close ties with Facebook, one of the world’s most popular websites with almost 500m members.

A YouTube video posted by Number 10 on Thursday showed Mr Cameron chatting amiably with Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder, via a video link. The pair discussed how Facebook could be used to encourage participation in the Treasury’s “Spending Challenge”.

“Thank you very much for getting Facebook involved in this project, I’m really excited about it,” Mr Cameron said to Mr Zuckerberg. Mr Zuckerberg told the prime minister he was “delighted to be in this partnership with you guys”.

He said: “It’s a really innovative thing that you guys are doing trying to open up policymaking and engage the public in this way to try to create more social change. We’re happy to support you guys in any way that we can.”

Mr Cameron told the billionaire: “Next time you’re in town come and look us up.”