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The charity Beat Bullying has said that the law has failed to keep pace with the Internet – and is calling for a law to beat cyberbullying.
The police currently use three pieces of legislation to prosecute cyberbullies – the Public Order Act (1986), the Malicious Communications Act (1988) and the Communications Act 2003.
A recent case of cyberbullying ended in arrests and prosecutions after a female Twitter user was targeted by “trolls”, after calling for author Jane Austen’s image to be used on a bank note.
Some female Twitter users who supported this received threats of rape and violence from “trolls”.
Cases of cyberbullying involving children and young adults have sometimes ended tragically, however, with a young person taking their life after being bullied online.
The head of Child Safety Online, Clare Lilly, told Sky News that more legislation would not necessarily mean that children were “better protected” from online bullies:
“Cyberbullying is often a behaviour that takes place between children,” Ms Lilly said.
“Rather than criminalising them, it's important that parents and carers talk to their children about acceptable behaviour on and offline.”
In some cases individuals who are bullied online can use anti-harassment legislation to take the cyberbully to court.
Any online bullying which threatens violence or breaches anti-discrimination laws should be reported to police, however.
Incidences in which a child, young person or adult feels they are being “groomed” online for sexual or emotional and financial exploitation should also report this to the police.
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