Stiffer penalties for abuse on Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms are to be introduced, according to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Official figures show a 20% rise in all forms of hate crime reported to the police in the first quarter of this year. The CPS said that in 2015-16 the CPS completed 15,442 hate crime prosecutions, the highest figure on record, with a conviction rate of 83.2%.
Prosecutors will be ordered to treat online hate crime as seriously as offences carried out face to face, according to Alison Saunders, director of public prosecutions. Saunders says the crackdown is needed because online abuse can lead to the sort of extremist hate seen in Charlottesville in the United States last weekend, which left one person dead.
If you’ve been affected by hate crime online, we’d like you to share your experiences with us. What was the process like for seeking advice or help? How well did social media companies deal with it?
You can share your experiences using the encrypted form below. We’ll use a selection of responses in our reporting. Due to the nature of the story we will need to verify your submission, so please share contact details which you check regularly. We will not be able to publish unverified stories.
You can also email: carmen.fishwick@theguardian.com
- If young people have been affected by hate speech, they can contact Childline on 0800 11 11 or online at childline.org.uk.
