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Disabled receive ‘horrific’ online abuse
"They find him an easy target," said Katie Price, a former model who is now leading a crusade against online abuse. She was speaking about her 16-year-old son, Harvey, who has been subjected to hundreds of messages containing "the most horrific things". Harvey is partially blind, autistic and has a genetic disorder called Prader-Willi syndrome. "He can't speak to defend himself, I can," said Price. She has launched a petition, signed by 220,000 people, to "make online abuse a specific criminal offence and create a register of offenders." Her campaign has been supported by Parliament's Petitions Committee, which says current rules about abuse on social media have "failed disabled people". "Social media is rife with horrendous, degrading and dehumanising comments about people with disabilities," said Labour MP Helen Jones. Currently, UK law bans malicious communications, threats and inciting hatred, but MPs say these rules are incoherent and hard to enforce. There are also loopholes as some types of abuse are not illegal, for example, if it does not cross into direct threats. Price and the committee want to close these loopholes by making online abuse a separate offence. Other high-profile figures suffering from the plague of internet harassment are Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton. Their social media accounts have been inundated with threats and nasty comments since tabloid newspapers reported that the women were in an feud. The problem is so severe that the Duchesses' staff have sought help from Instagram on how to manage the abuse. In response to the news, celebrity magazines have launched a #HelloToKindness campaign against internet trolls. Emily Nash, royal editor for Hello! magazine, says the campaign "isn't about censorship. It's about raising the standard of conversation." "Before you comment, think. Is it helpful? Is it kind? And would you say it in real life?" While all kinds of people suffer abuse online, misogyny is particularly common. A woman is abused on Twitter every 30 seconds. In total, Facebook says it removed 5.4 million pieces of hate speech between April and September in 2018. Will stricter laws stop online trolls? Politicians can make all the laws they want, but it takes cooperation from tech companies to clamp down on perpetrators. Last year, only four out of 14 social media firms turned up to talks with the government. Hate laws reserve harsher punishments for crimes motivated by race, religion and other factors. Is a crime worse if it is motivated by discrimination, even if the act itself is the same? Should it be illegal to insult someone? Or tease them? Where exactly is the line between freedom of speech and harassment?