We need a law to stop trolls who target my son, warns Katie Price
KATIE Price told MPs yesterday that online abuse should be made a specific offence following social media attacks against her disabled son.
The TV personality and former glamour model also wants to see the creation of a register of offenders.
Miss Price described how her 15-year-old son Harvey – who is blind, autistic and has a range of health problems – is constantly mocked online.
Giving evidence with her mother Amy by her side, she told the Commons petitions committee that trolls hurl racist abuse at her son and even create cruel videos of him.
The reality TV star, who was previously known as Jordan, said the law had failed to keep up with the changing use of technology. She said a line should be drawn between ‘banter’ and abuse that should be a criminal offence.
Harvey – who has the rare Prader-Willi syndrome – was targeted on Twitter last year by an unnamed 19-year- old who received a caution from Sussex Police. But Miss Price told the MPs that police had been powerless to act in other cases.
‘Even the police were really embarrassed because it got to the point where they couldn’t take it any further because they couldn’t charge them with anything because there is nothing in place, so they had to get dropped, the cases,’ she said.
‘Since then it has just continued, it has got worse and worse – you name it, Harvey gets it.
‘He is mocked for his colour, his size, I just think they think he is an easy target to pick on. But I’m his voice. I’m here and I’m going to protect him.’
The mother- of-five called for the creation of a new criminal offence – which she has dubbed ‘Harvey’s Law’ – to make online trolling a crime.
She added: ‘If it was a criminal offence I do not believe there would be so much of it.
‘It would stop so many deaths, harassment and abuse. Some of you MPs have even had it as well. It happens to everyone – so it’s a no brainer really.’
Miss Price said she had tried ‘naming and shaming’ trolls herself but added: ‘Online is the future and there needs to be some more security checks’. MPs triggered an inquiry into online abuse after she started a petition which has been backed by more than 220,000 people. Miss Price spoke hours after Theresa May warned social media giants that they were undermining British democracy by allowing ‘intimidation and aggression’ to run riot online. Firms such as Facebook and Twitter will face an official assessment of whether they are cracking down on abuse, and there will be an annual report to expose the firms that are doing the least to tackle the problem, the Prime Minister said.