Online trolls - those who are abusive on social media and other websites - are one of the unpleasant side effects of a more connected world.
The more high profile a person is, the more abuse they seem to receive from these trolls.
A new campaign has been launched to advise social media users to "do not feed the trolls" - muting, blocking and reporting online harassers.
However, it has been described as "imperfect advice" with abusive people finding a way to continue their online harassment.
The Claim
Celebrities, including actors, television personalities and politicians, have pledged to stop engaging with online trolls.
Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker, Countdown's Rachel Riley, comedian and actor Eddie Izzard and London mayor Sadiq Khan are among those backing a campaign that advises people to mute, block and report abusive people online.
It is part of the launch of a report called 'Don't Feed the Trolls' by new think tank Center for Countering Digital Hate.
Izzard told the Guardian that responding to trolls can help spread their hate to a larger audience.
The comedian said: "To directly engage with these trolls is to hand them a megaphone.
"The world would be a happier and less hateful place if, instead of giving these voices the attention and audience they crave, we all simply blocked and ignored them."
The Counterclaim
However, the Independent's Ally Fogg argues that "don't feed the trolls" has always been "imperfect advice".
He explains: "Victims of targeted harassment learned long ago that their abusers and harassers often react to being ignored by upping the intensity and cruelty of their abuse until it can be ignored no more.
"Even the progression of ignore-then-mute-then-block does little to obstruct the determined harasser who can be back with a new account within minutes."
Fogg also says that the new report released by the Center for Countering Digital Hate this week is "discomfiting".
It paints public figures as victims, who need protection from "the massed rabble of divisive, hatemongering trolls".
He asks where does that leave public figures who are "the internet's most pernicious peddlers of hate", or whether it shields elected politicians from any disagreement or arguments from their electorate.
Fogg adds: "One celebrity’s troll is another celebrity’s footsoldier."
The Facts
Almost a quarter of British adults have experienced some sort of cyberbullying, according to a YouGov poll.
The survey of over 2,000 people, published in April, found that 23 per cent of people had been targeted by trolls - with one in 10 of those experiencing it in the last fortnight alone.
Cyberbullying is more common among young people - with 18 to 24-year-olds most likely to experience online abuse (55 per cent), followed by a third of 25 to 34-year-olds.
The most common form of cyberbullying was harassment, when people receive abusive or hateful messages. Facebook and Twitter were the most common platforms for cyberbullying.
Only 53 per cent of those cyberbullied reported it to the platform.
In 2016, the Crown Prosecution Service released new and detailed guidelines on what constitutes as criminal online harassment.
Derogatory hashtags, virtual mobbing (inciting people to harass others online), doctoring images, and publishing personal information (known as doxxing) are all offences listed in their guidelines.
Online trolling can be prosecuted under the Malicious Communications Act 1988 and the Communications Act 2003.
