Facebook Removes Paedophile Page After Court Order

Facebook has taken down a page in Northern Ireland that was set up to monitor paedophiles, following an order from the High Court.

The social network was given 72 hours to act, but has done so immediately, after a convicted sex offender won a case in which he claimed harassment. The unnamed man spent six years in jail for a slew of child sex offences.

Once he came out of prison, he found the page along with pictures on him and threats directed towards him. He also claimed misuse of private information, and a breach of his right to privacy and freedom from inhuman or degrading treatment, according to the BBC.

Punished enough?

The judge ruled the man had already been punished enough by the justice system. Mr Justice McCloskey said: “Society has dealt with the plaintiff in accordance with the rule of law.”

“He has been punished by incarceration and he is subject to substantial daily restrictions on his lifestyle.”

Facebook said it was going to apply with the court order for now. “Facebook respects local laws. Consistent with the court order, the page in question is currently unavailable. We will be studying the text of the order before deciding on next steps,” a spokesperson said.

Think you’re a security pro? Try our quiz!

Thomas Brewster

Tom Brewster is TechWeek Europe's Security Correspondent. He has also been named BT Information Security Journalist of the Year in 2012 and 2013.

Recent Posts

Australia Rejects Elon Musk Claim About Social Media Ban For Under-16s

Government minister flatly rejects Elon Musk's “unsurprising” allegation that Australian government seeks control of Internet…

53 mins ago

Northvolt Files For Bankruptcy Protection In US

Northvolt files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States, and CEO and co-founder…

3 hours ago

UK’s CMA Readies Cloud Sector “Behavioural” Remedies – Report

Targetting AWS, Microsoft? British competition regulator soon to announce “behavioural” remedies for cloud sector

18 hours ago

Former Policy Boss At X Nick Pickles, Joins Sam Altman Venture

Move to Elon Musk rival. Former senior executive at X joins Sam Altman's venture formerly…

20 hours ago

Bitcoin Rises Above $96,000 Amid Trump Optimism

Bitcoin price rises towards $100,000, amid investor optimism of friendlier US regulatory landscape under Donald…

22 hours ago

FTX Co-Founder Gary Wang Spared Prison

Judge Kaplan praises former FTX CTO Gary Wang for his co-operation against Sam Bankman-Fried during…

22 hours ago