The Director of public prosecutions Keir Starmer QC has told the BBC that new guidelines for policing social media are to be discussed to avoid a “chilling effect” on free speech. His comments came in the wake of Matthew Wood being jailed for 12 weeks for posting comments about missing girl April Jones and Azhar Ahmed being given 240 hours community service after writing an offensive post about dead British soldiers. The Crown Prosecution Service will invite lawyers and academics, as well as representatives from social media companies, to be part of the discussions. The new measures are expected to be announced before Christmas.
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