A campaign, started by model Katie Price to make online abuse towards disabled people a criminal offence, has won the backing of MPs after more than 220,000 people signed a petition Katie set up.
The star’s 16-year-old son Harvey is disabled and has been the victim of many offensive comments on various websites. After receiving the petition the House of Commons Petitions Committee started an inquiry into online abuse, especially of disabled people. They found that an internet safety strategy which was set up in 2017 by the government to target “dangers like cyber-bullying, trolling and under-age access to porn” online has failed and is not protecting disabled people.
Unlike race and religion, there are no specific disability-related criminal offences. Instead, if the offence was motivated by disability, the sentence for the crime can be increased.
Committee chair Helen Jones MP 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 people with disabilities. 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.”
