Jail online trolls, says watchdog

Online trolls should face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the most serious cases of intimidating politicians at elections and referendums under beefed-up laws, the Electoral Commission has said.

The watchdog backed UK Government proposals to bar those who target parliamentary candidates or their staff and supporters from standing for office for five years, but warned this would not deter those who have no direct political ambitions.

The Commission suggested longer jail terms should be considered along the lines of proposals from the Law Society for those convicted of electoral fraud, in a response published yesterday to a Cabinet Office consultation launched in July.

It also called for greater powers to obtain information from online platforms, such as the identity of campaigners, and a compulsory “imprint” on all non-printed election material showing who was behind it, to combat “fake news”.

Claire Bassett, chief executive of the Electoral Commission, said: “The UK’s Law Commissions have set out a comprehensive package of reforms that the UK Government should implement to help address many of the problems with the UK’s complex and out-of-date electoral laws.”

The consultation is looking at introducing a new offence of “intimidating Parliamentary candidates and party campaigners”.