The statistics come from Thomson Reuthers which says that ’in the last year alone the number of cases relating to ‘new media’, such as internet-only news services, social media, text messages and online review sites, has more than quadrupled, rising from 6 to 26’. The news comes as the UK government promises to introduce new criminal sanctions for internet trolls. 

Individuals responsible

Keith Mathieson, head of media at City law firm RPC, said: ‘Many of the new media cases are taken against the individuals responsible for the publications rather than the companies such as Google or Twitter that host the material, as those companies are likely to have special hosting defences, particularly if they take material down following an initial complaint.’ Source: Thomson Reuters