Digital Crime ‘the new front line’.

Online Abuse, Digital Crime and the Law

Online abuse, harassment and harmful communications are now treated as serious legal and regulatory issues in the UK. Social media, messaging apps, forums and other digital platforms can be used to threaten, harass, intimidate, defame or exploit individuals, often at speed and on a large scale.

The Law Has Changed

For many years, prosecutors relied on older laws such as the Communications Act 2003 and the Malicious Communications Act 1988 to deal with abusive or threatening messages. These laws were criticised for being difficult to apply to modern online behaviour and for using broad terms such as "grossly offensive" or "indecent".

The Online Safety Act 2023 introduced a new framework for online safety, including new communications offences and duties for regulated online services. The aim is to make platforms take greater responsibility for illegal content and to provide clearer rules for harmful online behaviour.

New Online Communication Offences

The Online Safety Act introduced criminal offences covering certain types of harmful communications. These include threatening communications, false communications intended to cause non-trivial harm, cyberflashing, encouraging or assisting serious self-harm, intimate image abuse and epilepsy trolling.

These offences do not criminalise every rude, upsetting or offensive comment. Prosecutors must consider the legal test for the specific offence, the available evidence and the public interest before bringing a case.

Threatening Communications

Threatening online messages may be criminal where they convey a threat of death or serious harm and the required legal test is met. This can include threats sent via social media, email, text messages, messaging apps, or other electronic communications.

Victims should keep evidence where possible, including screenshots, usernames, links, dates, times and any related messages. In urgent cases involving threats of violence, the police should be contacted immediately.

False Communications

The Online Safety Act also created an offence relating to false communications. This can apply where a person sends information they know to be false and intends to cause non-trivial psychological or physical harm to a likely audience.

The offence is not intended to criminalise ordinary mistakes, satire, genuine opinion or legitimate debate. The prosecution must prove the required knowledge and intent.

Harassment and Stalking Online

Online abuse may also amount to harassment or stalking, especially where there is a course of conduct rather than a single message. Repeated unwanted contact, monitoring, threats, impersonation, publishing private information or encouraging others to target someone may all be relevant.

Depending on the facts, victims may be able to report the matter to the police, seek civil remedies, apply for protective orders or take advice about defamation, misuse of private information or data protection issues.

Intimate Image Abuse and Cyberflashing

Sharing or threatening to share intimate images without consent can lead to criminal liability. The law now covers a wider range of intimate image abuse, including certain threats and non-consensual sharing. Cyberflashing, which involves sending unwanted sexual images electronically, is also a criminal offence.

Anyone affected should preserve evidence and seek advice quickly. Platforms may also have reporting tools to request removal of images or accounts, but legal advice may be needed where the harm is serious or ongoing.

Platform Responsibilities

The Online Safety Act places duties on regulated online services, including social media platforms, search services and other user-to-user services. Ofcom is responsible for regulating the regime and can take enforcement action where services fail to comply with their duties.

Platforms may be required to assess risks, deal with illegal content, protect children from harmful material, provide reporting and complaints systems, and apply their terms of service consistently. The precise duties depend on the type and size of the service and the risks it presents.

Free Speech and Public Debate

Online safety law must be balanced against freedom of expression. Strong criticism, political disagreement, journalism, campaigning and lawful opinion should not be treated in the same way as threats, harassment or unlawful abuse.

This balance remains controversial. Some argue that the law does not go far enough to protect victims. Others argue that broad online safety rules can risk over-removal of lawful speech or create uncertainty for platforms and users.

Jurisdiction and Anonymous Accounts

Online abuse can be difficult to investigate where accounts are anonymous, messages are deleted, platforms are based overseas, or evidence is held outside the UK. This can make enforcement slower and more complex.

However, UK law can still apply in many cases where harm occurs in the UK or where UK users are targeted. Victims should preserve evidence early and avoid relying only on platform reporting tools where threats, harassment or intimate image abuse are involved.

What Victims Can Do

Victims of online abuse should keep a clear record of what happened. This may include screenshots, URLs, account names, dates, times, messages, emails, phone numbers and details of any witnesses. It is usually sensible not to engage with the abuser where doing so may escalate the situation.

Depending on the seriousness of the conduct, victims may report the matter to the platform, the police, an employer, a school, a university or another relevant authority. Legal advice may be needed where the abuse is repeated, threatening, defamatory, sexually explicit, discriminatory or causing serious distress.

When Legal Advice May Be Needed

A solicitor can advise on criminal complaints, harassment, stalking, restraining orders, civil injunctions, defamation, privacy, data protection, employment issues and removal of harmful content. Legal advice may also be important where a person has been accused of sending unlawful online communications.

Because online abuse cases often involve overlapping areas of law, early advice can help identify the right route and avoid steps that may weaken the evidence or escalate the dispute.

Current Position

The UK now has a more developed legal framework for online abuse and platform responsibility than it did before the Online Safety Act 2023. However, the law remains complex and continues to develop as Ofcom implements the regime and prosecutors apply the newer offences in practice.

Anyone affected by serious online abuse, threats, harassment, intimate image abuse or harmful communications should keep evidence and seek appropriate advice as soon as possible.

Disclaimer

Solicitors.com is not a firm of solicitors and does not provide legal advice. The information on this page is for general guidance only and should not be relied upon as a substitute for advice from a regulated solicitor. Criminal law, online safety law and platform regulation can change, and how the law applies will depend on the facts of each case.

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