Trolls abuse families over country sports

NEARLY two thirds of people living in the countryside say they have been harassed online due to their support for country sports and that social media companies are failing to help.

The survey of 500 people by the Countryside Alliance lays bare the abuse meted out to people living in the countryside. Rural dwellers reported how activists posted photographs of their children, as well as their emails and phone numbers, generating death threats.

Last night the Government said it would publish new guidance later this year to crack down on abuse from so-called online “trolls”.

Asked whether they had “experienced any online bullying or harassment related to your support for country sports”, 62 per cent of those who replied said they had. Eight out of 10 people said social media firms did not do “enough to protect the expression of views related to country sports”. One respondent told the alliance how their “pictures have been manipulated and posted on social media, pictures of my front door and children have been put online with comments calling me a paedophile”.

Another said: “I had a really bad experience last winter with regard to the hunting debate. I was called a criminal, a murderer and likened to a paedophile.”

Simon Hart, the Conservative MP and a former chief executive of the alliance, added: “These results show the extent to which online bullying is a problem and one that has no geographical limits. However, the net is closing on these people.”

A Government spokesman said: “We’ve proposed a social media code of practice which sets clear responsibilities for industry to tackle bullying on their platforms and improve support for users. And we are currently developing new world-leading laws to address the full range of online harms and make the UK the safest place to be online.”