Sick internet trolls who send death threats face up to five years in prison
SICK internet trolls who send death threats and other vicious hate face up to five years in jail under long-awaited laws.
Ministers today finally bring forward their clampdown on rife social media filth and force tech giants to take action quicker.
Laws will be toughened up and brought up to date to target genuine hate online — while protecting freedom of speech by stopping cops from having to investigate rogue mean tweets.
And Facebook, Twitter and TikTok will be put on notice that if they do not have proper processes to take down terror content, fraud or sick abuse posts, they face huge penalties.
They will include fines of up to ten per cent of annual global turnover — or even a block from being used in the UK.
It comes after MPs, charities and celebrities begged ministers to take tougher action after being forced offline by trolls.
Not taking down illegal content will be written specifically into the new Online Harms Bill.
Sending death and rape threats, abusive social media posts and “pile-on” harassment will become illegal, with offenders facing between two and five years behind bars.
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And knowingly sharing fake news about Covid and other subjects will also be outlawed.
Digital Secretary Nadine Dorries said: "Today’s changes mean we will be able to bring the full weight of the law against those who use the internet as a weapon to ruin people’s lives.”