Hate crime
7.16 Hate crimes include crimes demonstrating hostility on the grounds of an individual’s
actual or perceived race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity. In
Action Against Hate, the government’s plan for tackling hate crime (2016), and Action Against
Hate Two Years On (2018), jointly led by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local
Government (MHCLG) and the Home Office, the government has made clear that offending
online is just as serious as that occurring offline and perpetrators of hateful attacks should
be held accountable for their actions. Companies should create platforms where people –
whatever their identity or background – can work, learn and socialise together, with shared
rights, responsibilities and opportunities.

Harassment
7.20 Being harassed online can be upsetting and frightening, and online harassment can
amount to a criminal offence. Far too many people, from public figures to schoolchildren, have
experienced this kind of behaviour. A poll conducted for Amnesty International found that
21% of the women surveyed in the UK (504 women) had experienced online harassment or
abuse, with 17% having experienced this on social media. There are many forms of abuse
and some evidence suggests differences in the type of abuse experienced between men and
women. Research suggests more women than men experience sexual forms of verbal abuse
(21% compared to 9% of men), while more men than women experience offensive name
calling (30% compared to 23%) and physical threats (12% compared to 8%).

Disinformation
7.25 When the internet is deliberately used to spread false or misleading information, it
can harm us in many different ways, encouraging us to make decisions that could damage
our health, undermining our respect and tolerance for each other and confusing our
understanding of what is happening in the wider world. It can also damage our trust in our
democratic institutions, including Parliament.

Online abuse of public figures: Fulfilling the duty of care
7.36 As set out in Box 14, those involved in public life in the UK experience regular and
sustained abuse online, which goes beyond free speech and impedes individuals’ rights to
participate. As well as being upsetting and frightening for the individual involved, this abuse
corrodes our democratic values and dissuades good people from entering public life.

Cyberbullying: Fulfilling the duty of care
7.45 The regulator will set out steps that should be taken to tackle cyberbullying, such as
ensuring that those who have suffered from this harm are directed to, and are able to access,
adequate support.

O’Brien: How does one man assert his power over another, Winston?

Winston: By making him suffer.

O’Brien: Exactly. By making him suffer. Obedience is not enough. Unless he is suffering, how can you be sure that he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing. Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating? It is the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic Utopias that the old reformers imagined. A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but MORE merciless as it refines itself. Progress in our world will be progress towards more pain. The old civilizations claimed that they were founded on love or justice. Ours is founded upon hatred.”

This is horrifying. There are already congressman and EU grandees who have called for exposing the climate change hoax to be made illegal. Sinister, sinister stuff.

Once Brexit has been permanently squashed there'll be no holding them back.