Facebook, Yahoo, AOL UK, Mumsnet and the Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) have joined hands to offer a post in a form of an open letter to David Cameron urging for an "urgent reform" of UK libel laws in an aid to shield against free speech online.

In reference to the letter which is a division of the Libel Reform Campaign, the group seemingly asks the prime minister to update the current UK legislation, terming it to be a "disproportionate, chilling effect" on writers and web hosts.

"The libel laws have not been updated to address the rise of online publication. The current multiple publications rule, dating back to 1849, defines every download as a publication and a potential new cause of action," the letter reads.

The alliance further asks the government's about the recent to be launched draft libel reform bill - which is beloved to hit in the new year - that offers better security for discussion on the internet.

Nicholas Lansman, Secretary-General of the Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA), stated that ISPs are presently in a condition where they might need to take a decision what could be a defamatory meaning, and thus keeping an intermediary in a position of judge and jury in case of the material.

He further added that help for an innocent dissemination defence, that ISPs should be allowed to erase defamatory material that has resulted in decreed defamatory by a court authority, and at the same time offer libel law in case of the twenty-first century via only one publication rule.