British Prime Minister David Cameron told Parliament on Monday that the British government may take action against the newspapers publishing the intelligence documents leaked to the press by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, Reuters reports.
“If they don’t demonstrate some social responsibility it will be very difficult for the government to stand back and not to act,” Cameron said, railing against The Guardian.
Cameron’s comments came almost five months after previously secret intelligence documents were leaked by Snowden.
Following the detainment of David Miranda at London’s Heathrow Airport in August, Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger revealed that British government officials alluded to legal action against the Guardian if it did not destroy the files it received from Snowden.
Mirianda is the partner of former Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, one of the reporters to whom Snowden leaked secrets about the NSA and the U.K.’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).
The British prime minister’s zeal has also included a willingness to censor content on the Internet in the U.K. in the name of public safety.
In July, Cameron called for the mandatory installation of porn filters to protect children from pornography sites. He was mocked and met with resistance before he retreated from his position.