Re: Police to get tough on internet trolls.
 

Probably not - it depends who you "friend".

None of the groups or people I link to exhibit those behaviours, as I wouldn’t join a group or be "friends" to anyone who did.

It’s a small, but very vocal, minority.

Re: Police to get tough on internet trolls.
 

On Facebook l have most of our family , a few close friends and belong to certain groups that are among my own interests and that is it.

Re: Police to get tough on internet trolls.
 

Very wise, Den.

Re: Police to get tough on internet trolls.
 

Yup, and only friends can see my posts, and Only friends of friends can send me "friends’" requests.

Re: Police to get tough on internet trolls.
 

Indeed but there are plenty out there who don't even know about the privacy settings and seems to have a lax attitude to their own security on Facebook.

Re: Police to get tough on internet trolls.
 

Very true.

Re: Police to get tough on internet trolls.
 

The trade body 'The Internet Association' (they represent sites such as facebook, Google, Twitter etc) has written to the Culture, Health and Home Secretaries in an attempt to influence the ongoing negotiations over new rules for the internet.

They have asked for:

- A distinction to be made between illegal and harmful content that is posted.

- Intermediary liability. (Basically, this means that they don't want to be held responsible for the things that their customers post).

- Machines rather than moderators to remove most content.

- A distinction to be made between what is posted publically and what is sent to people in private messages.

This has been interpreted by the BBC Media Editor as a pre emptive strike that recognises that regulation is now needed, but tries to ensure that the internet isn't "pulled in a direction that's bad for business".

Re: Police to get tough on internet trolls.
 

I would think that most of the serious 'bullying and abuse' stuff is done via private messages . . and anyway, if they're really trying to crack down on bullying/trolling there shouldn't be a distinction between the two

Re: Police to get tough on internet trolls.
 

I think on most sites that PM's are quite literally private and only a team member with administrator priveleges can view them? Moderators can only act when a recipient reports the PM and also sends a copy to the team.

Re: Police to get tough on internet trolls.
 

On most sites (inc this one) administrators dont have direct access either, only someone with actual database access could read them.

Re: Police to get tough on internet trolls.
 

But if a complaint was made, do you then get access?

. . if a complaint was made

Re: Police to get tough on internet trolls.
 

Again, no.

The functionality simply does not exist in the software, complaints would not magically change that.

Re: Police to get tough on internet trolls.
 

The royal family have now issued guidelines on how to behave on their social media channels:

https://www.tatler.com/article/royal...ls-with-police

Those who do not follow these guidelines and post offensive, inflammatory, hateful, discriminatory etc comments face sanctions including being reported to the police.

Re: Police to get tough on internet trolls.
 

Ok, who has the Queen been trolling then? ;)

---------- Post added at 12:52 ---------- Previous post was at 12:43 ----------

There is a vBulletin mod that allows Admins to read PMs but I doubt that Paul has installed it on this site.

Re: Police to get tough on internet trolls.
 

With all the hype about online bullying, fake news etc, it's easy to think that, but I suspect the truth is nearer the opposite.

Facebook does offer the option to lock down your profile so that it's only accessible by friends and apps/pages you've given access. I am unsure if that is switched on by default, because I've been a member of facebook for years (I locked down my own profile), and am not going to set up another facebook account just to check this.

Generally, on my timeline ,I see posts from friends, and pages i've "liked", and the stuff I read on my timeline is stuff I am usually interested in, even if I don't agree with it.

The problem comes because even if the account is locked down, it is entirely possible that someone bad (be it a bully, ISIS recruiter or whatever) can get your facebook details and request a friendship. They can do this by genuinely appearing friendly, even using tricks to appear more friendly. Or they can threaten you.

I don't have accurate figures, but I suspect that the vast majority of social media users are just normal people. People who use facebook to keep track of old friends, use it to comment on other posts, and post the odd photo of family or a good night out. People who use Twitter for the same.