Social media in England and Wales will be policed like never before for offensive posts.
London:
The police in England and Wales are not quite going to 'like' your post if you make insulting remarks, intimidate, border at hate speech, or tried bullying. A new guideline by the country's senior-most prosecutor says a 'grossly offensive' message can attract a penalty with a jail term.
Social media in England and Wales will be policed like never before for offensive posts and 'bullying, exploitation and derogatory hashtags' can allow the police to press criminal charges.
The guidelines issued add: 'harassment', 'virtual mobbing', 'dog piling', 'racial', religious' and 'homophobic' posts' will come under scrutiny.
The director of public prosecutions, Allison Saunders, told British media, "If you are grossly abusive to people, if you are bullying or harassing people online, then we will prosecute in the same way as if you did it offline."
There are nearly two billion active social media accounts in the whole of the UK - most are owned by people below 38 years of age.
"I think as long as a post does not cause any menace, prosecution should not be allowed," said Ted Build, a student of International Relations.
Social activists largely welcomed action against serious threats, however, point that the guidelines are inadequate.
"There has to be a clear demarcation between free speech and Hate speech. There is a thin line between 'grossly' offensive and offensive," asked Priya Virmani, a social and political activist.
Two persons in the UK have faced a jail term for upto 18 weeks earlier for putting out derogatory tweets on tribute pages of celebrities. Jonathan Portes, a Research fellow on Social Research says he spends at least five hours on social media reading patterns of posts, specially abusive and derogatory.
"Death threats for example or racial hatred are illegal here and in India and authorities need to try to contain that. So I do agree that they should be prosecuted," he said.
The guidelines are kinder to persons under the age of 18. If the suspect expressed remorse, deleted the post or message or did not post it to a very wide audience, prosecution then may be a bad idea says this new rule book. In a country known for its humour and satire, activists and students say, the one to draw the line must be the person putting up the post.
Social media in England and Wales will be policed like never before for offensive posts and 'bullying, exploitation and derogatory hashtags' can allow the police to press criminal charges.
The guidelines issued add: 'harassment', 'virtual mobbing', 'dog piling', 'racial', religious' and 'homophobic' posts' will come under scrutiny.
The director of public prosecutions, Allison Saunders, told British media, "If you are grossly abusive to people, if you are bullying or harassing people online, then we will prosecute in the same way as if you did it offline."
There are nearly two billion active social media accounts in the whole of the UK - most are owned by people below 38 years of age.
"I think as long as a post does not cause any menace, prosecution should not be allowed," said Ted Build, a student of International Relations.
Social activists largely welcomed action against serious threats, however, point that the guidelines are inadequate.
"There has to be a clear demarcation between free speech and Hate speech. There is a thin line between 'grossly' offensive and offensive," asked Priya Virmani, a social and political activist.
Two persons in the UK have faced a jail term for upto 18 weeks earlier for putting out derogatory tweets on tribute pages of celebrities. Jonathan Portes, a Research fellow on Social Research says he spends at least five hours on social media reading patterns of posts, specially abusive and derogatory.
"Death threats for example or racial hatred are illegal here and in India and authorities need to try to contain that. So I do agree that they should be prosecuted," he said.
The guidelines are kinder to persons under the age of 18. If the suspect expressed remorse, deleted the post or message or did not post it to a very wide audience, prosecution then may be a bad idea says this new rule book. In a country known for its humour and satire, activists and students say, the one to draw the line must be the person putting up the post.
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