UK.gov slams Facebook over Moat fan clubs

Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday that he would make an official complaint to Facebook because it is hosting discussions and support groups for Raoul Moat.

But he might start a little nearer to home. The two sites supposedly set up to support Treasury spending cuts and to crowd-source laws which need repealing are both displaying messages of support for Moat this morning. Tricky stuff, this Web2.0.

Cameron was asked in the House yesterday by Tory MP Chris Heaton-Harris if he would consider another conference call with Mark Zuckerberg - chief executive of Facebook - in order to get groups expressing support and sympathy for Raoul Moat removed from the site.

Cameron said: "As far as I can see, it is absolutely clear that Raoul Moat was a callous murderer-full stop, end of story-and I cannot understand any wave, however small, of public sympathy for this man. There should be sympathy for his victims, and for the havoc he wreaked in that community; there should be no sympathy for him."

A 10 Downing street spin doctor later suggested an official complaint would be made to the social networking site.

But the Treasury's Spending Challenge website this morning displays calls for a Raoul Moat Memorial Day to be held every 9 July. Another message criticises police "over-reaction", while another accuses the police of spending too much money on hunting down Moat.

We're guessing there's more of this stuff on the government's other Wiki-policy site, Your Freedom, but it's down at the time of writing.

Hansard's record of the debate is here. ®