Mexico Mulls Twitter Clampdown

'Twitteros' avoid drunk-driving checkpoints, feared to aid drug gangs
By Jane Yager,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 3, 2010 4:36 AM CST
Mexico Mulls Twitter Clampdown
FILE - This Oct. 15, 2009 file photo shows a Japanese participant in Twitter Inc.'s special event launching a Japan-based mobile version of the popular microblogging service in Tokyo, Japan.   (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, File)

There's a new public enemy in Mexico: los Twitteros. Twitter users who warn one another about roadside drunk-driving checkpoints have so angered authorities that the Mexican government is considering restricting and monitoring social networking sites. But in a country in the grips of a violent battle against drug cartels, the fear of Twitteros is about much more than drunk driving, Global Post reports.

Support for the proposed restrictions is fueled in part by the growing fear that drug cartels and kidnappers are using Facebook and Twitter to do business—and locate targets. "Criminals can find out who are the family members of someone who has a high rank in the police," a crime expert said. "Perhaps they don’t have an account on Twitter or Facebook, but their children and close family probably do." (More Twitter stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X