Facebook Won't Remove Fan Page for Murderer

British PM can't understand sympathy for 'callous' killer
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 14, 2010 5:12 PM CDT
Facebook Won't Remove Fan Page for Murderer
In this photo released Thursday July 8, 2010, by Britain's Northumbria Police, a still from a CCTV camera showing fugitive Raoul Moat in a Newcastle shop on Friday July 2, 2010.    (AP Photo / Northumbria Police)

Facebook says it won't remove a fan page honoring Raoul Moat—a Briton who killed one person and shot two others before killing himself—despite the objections of British leaders. "It is absolutely clear that Raoul Moat was a callous murderer," said PM David Cameron. ''There should be no sympathy for him.'' A spokesman said he'd be complaining to Facebook. A conservative MP encouraged him to do so after noting that some have made anti-police statements on the page or attacked the reputation of Moat's slain girlfriend, the Guardian reports.

A Facebook spokesperson said the company believes "the group is a reflection of what people are debating offline in pubs and elsewhere. When you have 26 million people on Facebook in the UK, you are going to have many very different opinions. Just because some people are saying he is a hero or a lunatic does not mean that the page should be taken down."
(More Raoul Moat stories.)

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