GO TO JAIL! DO NOT SEND TWEET
I’m going out on a limb and calling the British police morons after they arrested a 17 year old kid for allegedly being mean to an Olympian.
“Jeez,” I bet you’re thinking, “that kid must have said something pretty horrendous. Did he threaten to maim the Olympian?”
Not exactly.
“Did he threaten to cut the ears off his kitten?”
Nope, not even warm.
“Smash his windows? Key his car? Put a flaming dog turd on his doorstep?”
No, no and disappointingly, no.
The kid, who the police claim went by the Twitter handle Rileyy_69, reportedly said something stupid.
The Olympian in question, diver Tom Daley, had missed out on a gold medal. Obviously that’s disappointing for him and disappointing for all those people who base their personal happiness on the actions of a bloke in Speedos. To make matters worse, in addition to missing out on gold, Daley’s father had died of cancer a year ago. You don’t need a degree in psychology to figure out he was probably feeling pretty bloody miserable.
And then Daley received a tweet saying, “You let your dad down i hope you know that”.
Tom Daley. Photo via The Guardian.
If I had a kid who sent a message like that, I’d take away his phone and internet access and then drag him by the ear down to a local oncology ward to show him what grief looks like. Then I’d make him watch Beaches on repeat for 24 hours straight.
But does being an idiot deserve jail time?
It’s worth remembering the alleged tweeter was 17 years old—the age when being a dickhead is congenitally woven into your core.
Daley rightly thought the tweet was a knob’s act and re-tweeted the comment to all of his followers. Rileyy_69 then received some fairly harsh Twitter justice, including having his phone number published: “xxxxxxxx is that Riley Kids number. Send him abuse and send me a screenshot so I can RT #GetRileyy_69Banned”
According to the screenshots posted on the internet, Rileyy_69 reacted with a load of swearing and vain threats to drown and stab people. Deliberate flaming (trying to upset people online) is designed to elicit this type of response.
If the police do it, it’s called entrapment.
Twitter obliged to the hysteria, Rileyy_69 was kicked off Twitter and a kid was arrested.
It’s worth noting that the child who published Rileyy_69′s private phone number and encouraged people to harass him wasn’t called upon by the police. In fact, his Twitter account wasn’t even suspended. He gleefully celebrated the fact that he was trending worldwide.
Twitter seems to be as consistent in meting out justice as the present day Meatloaf is at hitting high notes.
Three days ago, Guy Adams, a British journalist based in Los Angeles, tweeted that the NBC coverage of the Olympics was hopeless and suggested that viewers write to Gary Zenkel, the NBC Olympics President, and give him a serve. Adams then tweeted Zenkel’s work email address. Twitter suspended his account after NBC complained.
That was all it took.
Adams didn’t break Twitter’s rules and he didn’t breach anyone’s privacy, (Zenkel’s email address was publicly available online). He just annoyed a large corporation and Twitter fell over itself to act as NBC’s lackey.
To their credit Twitter has now admitted they made a mistake. Fancy that: leaping unquestioningly when a US network tells you it might make you look dumb. Who woulda thunk it?
Before being attacked globally, it was reported that Rileyy_69 had apologised a number of times for his tweet to Daley including, “I’m sorry mate i just wanted you to win cause its the olympics I’m just annoyed we didn’t win I’m sorry tom accept my apology.”
Not enough, kid! The Twitterverse wants someone nicked and the police are willing to respond.
Thankfully, the British police don’t limit themselves to hunting down tweeting children. They also waste their vital resources chasing grown ups.
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30 Responses to this article
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Pamela August 2, 2012
You mean you think it was silly to waste police time on this? Jesus what an original viewpoint you throw forth. I bet the 60million people in Britain wish they’d thought of that.
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kid August 2, 2012
He wasn’t arrested for being “mean”, he was arrested for repeatedly threatening to kill said Olympian.
Frankly sick of seeing journos defending little mongrels like this guy, as if people should be free to harass and threaten others, even threaten to kill. The police aren’t morons, they’re doing their job enforcing laws that have been around for years.
And you fall for his “I’m sorry I didn’t mean it”? They’re always sorry when they’re caught.
The cops got it right.
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Elle August 2, 2012
You clearly didn’t see the tweets that were sent to the diver. I did, as they were happening. They absolutely horrified me, I couldn’t think of what kind of a diseased mind thought them up, let alone write them.
The police are damned if they do & damned if they don’t. Who can tell the difference between a keyboard warrior kid saying these things & a psychopath.
Perhaps this turn of events will encourage others to think before going off on their wild, anonymous rants who believe that their screen acts as a shield from the real world.
And for the record, I use my real name on twitter. -
Chi August 2, 2012
Oliver Wendell Holmes, when he said (in 1919 in Schenck v United States) that a person is not free, when there is no fire, to shout ‘Fire!’ in a crowded theatre.
That is merely one way of illustrating John Stuart Mill’s classic libertarian ‘harm’ principle: ‘As soon as any part of a person’s conduct affects prejudicially the interests of
others, society has jurisdiction over it’. Put simply, freedom of expression is limited such that it does not harm others. The Kid did wrong and should be punished . -
Fred August 2, 2012
It wasn’t a single tweet, there were some pretty vile ones before that. Mind you, the kid probably needs psychological help more than he needs a criminal record.
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corinne grant August 2, 2012
Did any one of the commenters above actually read the article all the way through? I reference and address all of the points I’ve been told I didn’t cover. I make it clear it wasn’t one tweet. I reference the others and explain that the kid was baited. I also make the timeline clear. The child didn’t actually harm anybody and whether his threats were serious or not is profoundly debatable. And the point of the article (which I also make clear) is that millions of people behave like this on Twitter every day. Are we going to arrest them all?
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Chris August 2, 2012
This is a start. Maybe then people will watch what they tweet or say to others. You are not free to slander, threat, insult or just be plain nasty. Might be wasting police time in some eyes, but how do you know who is psychopath and who isn’t.
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Jenny August 2, 2012
This punishment may seem harsh but it might go some way in preventing similar acts when you know the possible consequences of a nasty tweet.
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Mez August 2, 2012
Twitter is the new window to the soul. Larissa Behrendt’s appalling comment about Bess Price, Julian Burnside’s pedophile tweet directed at Abbott, the charming wish that Melinda Tankard Reist be anally raped with a coffee mug … No wonder they wanted Bolt arrested for ‘thinking’ something he never said – they know the vile goings on inside there own minds and twitter gives us all a unique insight.
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AJ August 2, 2012
Every so often I think about joining Twitter, then things like this come up to remind me that I’m just being sensible by avoiding it.
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Jenny August 2, 2012
Twitter is selective and you only follow those accounts that you choose and are interested in.
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rache August 2, 2012
wow corinne, great column, wittily written as always, and how interesting that every commentator so far has disagreed. i found myself agreeing with all of them too! you have started a very interesting debate.
i think you are quite right about how things actually are, but wow hoopla women, i love that you don’t accept that and want some better civic accountabilty. -
Jules August 2, 2012
This generation has the unfortunate burden of being idiots in such public ways. They live such public lives and therefore open themselves up to much more scrutiny. 3 or 4 olympics ago, this kid would have relayed this message to a few of his mates who would have promptly told him he was an idiot and that would have been the end of it.
It is like we are still in a phase when the norms of social media are still being established. I think it’s a frightful time to be a teenager (or an adult wishing they were a teenager). I find twitter a big waste of time – who wants to hear the constant ramblings of others. Sometimes its nice to turn off the noise. Hopefully, we all grow out of this fascination very soon. I doubt it though. -
airdre grant August 2, 2012
well that shut everyone up
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Janelle August 2, 2012
Have to agree with almost all comments. Twitter allows anyone to publicly rant without consequence. Time to bring back some reality rules. You ARE responsible for what you tweet, so think first! Too many tweeters don’t.
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Jackie August 2, 2012
Really….drink some concrete and harden the f**k up…I agree with Corrine. Twitter has both block and report options. The first rule of internet is don’t feed the trolls.
Like Elle I also saw this unfold in real time….after the retweet from Daley Riley DID apologise several time but then the Get Riley Banned hashtag started….He was getting threats as well as making them himself….he acted like a stupid pelutant child….not a criminal…sure slap him on the wrist and give him a bit of a scare if you must but arrest him?
As Voltaire once said.
“I may not agree with what you say, but I will fight to the death for your right to say it”I do NOT want what I say monitored or misconstrued or edited due to the actions of a troll…whilst I do not agree with what was said…the adult thing to do was block him. Remember Daley was the adult in this conflagration not Riley.
I don’t expect us all to agree and I certainly would like to think we can resolve issue or agree to disagree without starting witchhunts.
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Nikki August 2, 2012
Look. Teenagers are idiots. It’s an important stage they go through in order to learn hard lessons and become less idiotic. The arrival of social media made being an idiot so much easier.
People cop abuse on twitter all the time. It’s just the nature of the thing. Networking and nitpicking. If people, especially children, start being arrested for posting stupid things the world will go mad.
The Olympics hypes everyone up into a frenzy and then someone gets silly…It’s not much different from a drunken yobo yelling abuse at his losing football team.
The kid has been publicly humiliated and shaming can work a lot better than being dragged through the ‘justice’ system.
Yes. I think it has been a gross over-reaction to a childish, hurtful jibe-fest. -
Kek August 2, 2012
I have 3 intelligent & perfectly nice sons, who regularly open their mouths and say stupid things. I’d be horrified if one of them behaved like this publicly, but a clip over the ear & confiscation of all gadgets & internet privileges plus a public apology to the person concerned seems a more just & reasonable response.
Mind you, a visit from the police would undoubtedly ensure they never did it again…but arrest? Come on. You can’t legislate against immaturity. -
sami August 2, 2012
He made a death threat. That is against the law. He was arrested. It’s not rocket surgery.
I would assume that the reason others who send similar threats via twitter are not arrested is that the police aren’t aware of said threats. They can’t monitor every bloody tweet out there. I’m sure if I reported a death threat made towards me the police would arrest that person. Or should I just go “ha ha good one” and hope they are only being ‘funny’?
Normally I like your articles Corrine but this one missed the mark a bit. Yeah the police have better things to do than deal with this idiot, but tell that to the idiot, not the police. HE is the one wasting their time and resources. Coppers can’t catch a break either way.
All we are being told nowadays is ‘walk away from fights’ and ‘lighten up’ but really, it’s not the general population that should be dealing with this stuff. If dickheads weren’t being dickheads we wouldn’t have these problems.
Frankly I’d rather this kid learn his lesson now than become even more of a tool as he gets older. If we reinforce that threatening to kill someone is okay then where do we draw the line?
I’ve got my cranky pants on today… I’m going back to reading the article about the baby wombat and joey that became friends instead. Much nicer.
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Leah pallaris. August 2, 2012
MAYBE THE NEW MESSAGE SHOULD BE…………..” “THINK BEFORE YOU TWEET”….. RESPECT IS WHAT IS NEEDED BEFORE YOU EVEN TRY TO TWEET OR SEND NASTY MESSAGES….
I think a deleted system should chuck out evil nasty words, so that they can not be printed. the programme can be called. INTO the TRASH can go the TROLL SENDERS…. -
Louisa August 2, 2012
Great article Corinne. The original tweet was incredibly cruel and probably would have been the end of it if his number hadn’t have been made public and the subsequent flaming caused things to escalate. No way he should have been arrested.
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Monica August 2, 2012
Teenagers can and do do dumb things. But most would “get” that making deaths threats isn’t cool. Provocation shouldn’t be a ticket to be let off the hook.
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Danny Dix August 2, 2012
Erm…my goat just ate next doors geraniums.
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Caroline August 3, 2012
From Corinne Grant’s above article (in part), “Twitter seems to be as consistent in meting out justice as the present day Meatloaf is at hitting high notes.” Regardless of any particular reference to, “…Meatloaf…,” the high notes that he has is certainly in his bank balance;,which I presume is greater than the combination of yours and mine.
Additionally, I question, “If I had a kid who sent a message like that, I’d take away his phone and internet access and then drag him by the ear down to a local oncology ward to show him what grief looks like. Then I’d make him watch Beaches on repeat for 24 hours straight.” Could this be seen as an illegal act? Where would the person meting out the conduct be then? Arrested and In prison, perhaps?
Corinne Grant, sometimes people need to know what boundaries are. Occasionally, appropriate corrective action needs to be provided by an external influence.
