Law on online abuse is not fit for purpose. Disability hate crime is not fully recognised and perpetrators are not appropriately punished. The law on hate crime must give disabled people the same protections as those who suffer hate crime due to race or religion, says a parliamentary committee. Its report urged the Government to ensure that social media companies accept their responsibility for allowing illegal and abusive content on their sites.
The Petitions Committee inquiry was triggered by a petition started by celebrity Katie Price; which attracted 221,914 signatures before it closed early due to the 2017 General Election. It talked about online abuse directed at people from all backgrounds, but also highlighted the online abuse directed at her disabled son, Harvey.
The petition called on the Government to “make online abuse a specific criminal offence and create a register of offenders.” The Petitions Committee said that it agrees with Katie Price’s petition that the law on online abuse is not fit for purpose: “The police, the public and social media companies need a criminal law that is fit for purpose and draws a line between behaviour that can be tackled by private companies and behaviour that requires a criminal justice approach. It is not enough to repeat “What is illegal online, is illegal offline” as an excuse for inaction.” The report suggested that sexual and financial exploitation, online and offline, seems to have been left in the “too difficult” box by the authorities.
While the petition called for a petition of offenders, the committee of MPs wrote that ‘a sensible criminal law, which covered online abuse and included proper recognition of hate crimes against disabled people, will achieve what the petition is looking for from a register, as criminal convictions will show up as part of a Disclosure and Barring Service check’.
Comment
Committee Chair, Warrington Labour MP Helen Jones, said: “Our inquiry into online abuse and the experience of disabled people has shown that social media is rife with horrendous, degrading and dehumanising comments about disabled people. The law on online abuse is not fit for purpose and it is truly shameful that disabled people have been forced off social media while their abusers face no consequences. There is no excuse for the continued failure to make online platforms as safe for disabled people as non-disabled people. Self-regulation has failed disabled people and the law must change to ensure more lives are not destroyed.”
In particular the committee found it ‘disappointing’ that the footballing organisations it raised concerns with about abusive behaviour expressed no interest in addressing the problem. Its report said that social media companies need to accept their responsibility for allowing toxic environments to exist unchallenged.
Separately, women’s rights charity The Fawcett Society published an open letter to National Police Chiefs’ Council Chair Sara Thornton and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, urging them to support making misogyny a hate crime. For Sara Thornton’s reply, visit the NPCC website.
Society Chief Executive Sam Smethers said: “Women are routinely targeted with abuse and threats online and in our streets. We know that black women, Muslim women and Jewish women are particularly affected. The way we tackle hate crime must reflect that.
“We have to recognise how serious misogyny is. It is at the root of violence against women and girls. Yet it is so common that we don’t see it. Instead it is dismissed and trivialised. By naming it as a hate crime we will take that vital first step.
“We recognise the pressure the police are under and will support their efforts to secure more resources. But at a time of rising hatred in our society, much of it targeted at women, we have to take this seriously and act.”
