Law Commission Proposes Reforms To Communications Offences To Target Serious Harms From Online Abuse And To Protect Freedom Of Expression

• Published date: 28 July 2021
• Subject Matter: Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment, Criminal Law, Social Media, Crime
• Law Firm: Wiggin
• Author: Ms Adelaide Lopez

The Law Commission's recommendations, which have been laid in Parliament, would reform the 'communications offences' found in s 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988 and s 127 of the Communications Act 2003. The Commission says that these offences do not provide consistent protection from harm and in some instances disproportionately interfere with freedom of expression.

The reforms would address the harms arising from online abuse by modernising the existing communications offences, ensuring that the law is clearer and that it effectively targets serious harm and criminality. The recommendations aim to do this in a proportionate way in order to protect freedom of expression. They also seek to 'future-proof' the law in this area as much as possible by not confining the offences to any particular mode or type of communication.

The Commission says that current laws that govern online abusive behaviour are not working as well as they should. The existing offences are ineffective at criminalising genuinely harmful behaviour and in some instances disproportionately interfere with freedom of expression. Reliance on vague terms like 'grossly offensive' and 'indecent' sets the threshold for criminality too low and potentially criminalises some forms of...