A landmark decision on online bullying was the decision of a British court, which sentenced a 33-year-old man to eight months in prison for insulting and threatening to rape a British MP via Twitter. According to the indictment, Peter Nunn sent messages via the popular social media platform to Labour MP Stella Creasy, threatening her with rape and derogatorily calling her a “wicked witch.”.
The reason for the convict's... outburst was the MP's statement that she supports feminist Caroline Crianto-Perez, who is campaigning to have the portrait of British author Jane Austen depicted on the new 10-pound coin.
The author herself had received threatening messages via Twitter, and the perpetrators – a man and a woman – were sentenced in January to eight and twelve weeks in prison, respectively.
The incident has sparked strong reactions on Twitter, with more than 100,000 people signing an online petition asking the site to create a link through which users can report similar incidents of harassment.
The CEO of Twitter UK has personally apologised to the two women. “Today’s sentencing of Peter Nunn is a step forward in recognising the distress and fear that online harassment can cause,” said Stella Chrissy, the company’s chief executive.
Source: defencenet.gr
