BID TO BAN ONLINE ANONYMITY Why only one in 500 internet trolls gets sent to jail
JUST one in 500 online trolls end up in jail after being reported to police, despite cases doubling in four years.
Forces in England and Wales now receive more than 5,000 allegations of malicious communications –such as racist, obscene or threatening messages – every week.
Shocking figures show that for every 50 offences logged as crimes, just one suspect will be charged.
And of those, a mere one in 10 will end up in prison.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council says a lack of evidence, and abusers hiding behind anonymous accounts, are among the reasons for so few prosecutions.
Cruel
After the fatal stabbing of Sir David Amess last week, fellow MPS have told how they face a constant barrage of abuse and threats both in person and online.
In July, England players Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho were bombarded with racist abuse from anonymous accounts online after missing penalties in the Euros final against Italy.
And former Little Mix star Jesy Nelson, 30, has told how she was driven to attempt suicide after cruel online trolls criticised her appearance.
Internet trolls also hounded
Love Island host Caroline
Flack, 40, in the weeks before she took her own life in 2019.
Tory MP Mark
Francois, who was friends with Sir David, said Facebook and Twitter bosses should be invited to the Commons to explain how they intend to crack down on online hate.
He also called for ‘David’s Law’ to be set up in the MP’S memory, banning anonymous social media accounts. Of the 273,123 reports of
malicious communications last year, just 6,319 led to charges. Crime figures for England and Wales also show the number of people cautioned in the past four years has almost doubled, from 1,431 to 2,231.
The majority of malicious communications offences take place online – usually via direct messages, social media and email.
Our figures also include those carried out verbally on the phone or in poison pen letters. David Spencer, of the Centre for Crime Prevention, said internet platforms should be made to tackle the problem themselves, freeing up the police to deal with more “serious and violent crimes”.
He said: “While online abuse must not be tolerated, it’s clear from this data that police are spending a disproportionate amount of their time investigating [it] without delivering results.
“Most taxpayers would far rather see their police on the streets tackling serious and violent crimes than sat at a desk policing social media sites and online chat rooms.” Mr Spencer said online platforms should refer cases to the police when necessary, “without undermining the basic online freedoms of the many in order to tackle a few rotten apples”.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has also said the Government could consider a ban on anonymous accounts.
She said: “We can’t carry on like this. I spend too much time with communities who have been under attack, who have had all sorts of postings online. We want big changes.”
A draft of the Government’s Online
Safety Bill is currently being scrutinised by MPS. Lisa Nandy, shadow foreign secretary, said the Government had been “dragging its feet” over online safety for years and called for a code to be introduced so social media firms can tackle online hate.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council said: “It can be devastating to an individual’s mental health and, in some cases, their personal safety.
“Police take all reports of malicious communications seriously and will do everything we can to investigate.”