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BY WEN YANG AND TRACY PFEIFFER

ANCHOR ANTHONY MARTINEZ

You're watching multisource tech video news analysis from Newsy. 

Did social media fuel the London riots?

After working with tech company Research in Motion to track down alleged rioters using BlackBerry messenger-- the British government has met with reps from RIM, Facebook, and Twitter-- to discuss voluntary measures that could be taken to limit social media’s role-- in social violence.

That meeting has come under harsh criticism.

Here’s what one freedom of expression activist tells Al Jazeera.

EMILY BUTSELAAR: "I'm actually appalled this suggestion was even made. Which two nations came out and made-- China and Iran. Are we, the democracy we see ourselves in, really want to give the impression to the world that autocracies and theocracies shutting off social media that way in the time of crisis is OK?"

And in a joint letter to the Home Secretary, a group of Britain’s leading human rights and civil liberties organizations has this to say about the meeting:

“We are very concerned that new measures, made in good faith but in a heated political environment, will overextend powers in ways that would be susceptible to abuse, restrict legitimate, free communication and expression and undermine people's privacy.” (Open Rights Group)

Meanwhile, the Guardian has crunched some numbers on the subject. The paper conducted an analysis of 2.5 million tweets during the riots.

The data shows that Twitter was used mainly to react to the riots afterwards rather than inciting them-- countering the government's reported assumption that social media escalated the riots. (The Guardian)

A blogger for TIME’s Techland says-- though Facebook and Twitter have warned against the British government against outright online censorship, they’re open to more cooperation.

“Facebook and Twitter will reportedly give no ground … That said, there's likely to be discussion about … working more effectively with British law enforcement.”

Finally, according to the New York Times, Home Secretary Theresa May denies the meeting was about limiting social media.

“The government’s home minister, Theresa May, according to one account of the meeting, said that the aim was not to ‘discuss restricting Internet services,’ but to instead ‘crack down on the networks being used for criminal behavior.’ A spokeswoman for Ms. May said the government ‘would not be seeking any additional powers.’”

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Transcript by Newsy.