People who post racist abuse online could soon be given orders banning them from using sites like Twitter or Facebook.
A new report from a cross-party group of MPs has highlighted a rise in anti-Semitism online, and there are now calls to stop those repeatedly posting abusive messages from accessing certain sites.
Currently Anti-Social Behaviour Orders—aka ASBOs—can be used to stop minor offenders from attending certain places or doing particular activities. The idea would be do a similar thing online, and for instance only ban trolls from certain social media sites. Similar orders are used to restrict the online access of sex offenders, and the group behind the report are asking the Crown Prosecution Service if the same can be applied to hate crimes.
The report describes the disturbing rise of anti-Semitism in the UK, with "Hitler" and "Holocaust" amongst the top 35 terms used on Twitter last summer. Twitter CEO Dick Costolo recently admitted that his company “suck{s} at dealing with abuse and trolls on the platform and we've sucked at it for years.”
