Britain is stuffed with ‘web trolls’ as worst ‘keyboard warrior’ cities mapped
The UK has become a hotbed for “keyboard warriors” and “internet trolls,” according to the latest Home Office stats.
During the pandemic, offences of malicious communications think nasty emails, vile social media posts, or any message that’s just plain gross or meant to upset someone absolutely skyrocketed.
A whopping 289,000 such crimes were recorded up to March 2022, but as we’ve all started popping out more, the numbers have dipped a bit. There were 275,000 offences in the year ending March 2023, with about 168,000 the year before that.
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Birmingham’s been crowned the top spot for these online nasties over the past five years, racking up 32,000 offences. Leeds and Bradford are not far behind with 27,000 and 23,000 respectively.
But when you look at the figures relative to population size, Blackpool takes the dubious crown. The seaside town has seen nearly 7,000 offences in five years that’s a staggering 48 reports per 1,000 residents!
Bradford, Wakefield, and Calderdale all in West Yorkshire follow suit with high rates per capita.
Fancy seeing how your area stacks up? Just use our interactive map below to see.
When the Malicious Communications Act came into force in 1988, it aimed mainly at poison pen letters. But the legislation included a clause that made it also an offence to send “an electronic communication or article of any description”, which covers emails and abusive social media posts. It can be punished by a maximum sentence of up to a year in prison, a fine, or both.
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In recent weeks several people have been arrested and even jailed over comments made online during the violence and disorder that swept across the UK following the horrific murder of three children in Southport.
In the wake of the riots the director of public prosecutions of England and Wales said there were “dedicated police officers who are scouring social media” looking for offences and offenders.
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