A tweet from the verified Twitter account of Police Scotland indicates that the department is now actively monitoring social media to find and investigate offensive comments.
Please be aware that we will continue to monitor comments on social media & any offensive comments will be investigated.
— Police Scotland (@policescotland) December 30, 2014
Needless to say, Twitter users were less than happy to hear that they were being actively monitored by a government agency for something that wasn’t even a crime:
@jnross9 @policescotland @KTHopkins Being offensive isn't illegal you idiot.
— Jock McArsebag (@WillMcHoebag) December 30, 2014
@policescotland ha ha ha, look what the scotch have become, sensitive little lambs.
— KOOMOONITY JOCK (@MavisStott) December 30, 2014
@policescotland Please can you stop offending me with your offensive tweets about police monitoring what citizens say?
— Rolo Tamasi (@Rolo_Tamasi) December 30, 2014
.@policescotland, could you clarify what you mean by offensive? For example, if I call you blithering asswipes, would that offend you?
— Scott Greenfield (@ScottGreenfield) December 30, 2014
The tweet comes a week after an English police department tweeted that they were investigating an offensive tweet about a fatal truck crash in Glasgow, the capital of Scotland, which has one of the highest murder rates in Europe.
We can confirm police are carrying out enquiries into reports of an offensive message posted on Twitter in relation to Glasgow collision.
— Northumbria Police (@northumbriapol) December 22, 2014