Internet: Hate Crime

Department for Communities and Local Government written question – answered at on 25 January 2017.

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Photo of Nusrat Ghani Nusrat Ghani Conservative, Wealden

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what data his Department holds on the volume of anti-Semitic and other hate material available (a) online, (b) on Twitter and (c) on Facebook.

Photo of Marcus Jones Marcus Jones Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Communities and Local Government) (Local Government)

Incidences of illegal hate crime online should be reported to the police who are supported by third party organisations such as the Community Security Trust. National statistics on hate crime are published annually. In addition, figures produced by the National Police Chiefs’ Council provide a breakdown of police recorded religious hate crimes and show that in 2015/16, 786 anti-Semitic hate crimes were recorded by police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland: http://www.report-it.org.uk/files/faith_hate_crime_true_vision_2015-16_v2.pdf Data is not available to show how many of these offences were committed online.

As part of the Government’s Hate Crime Action Plan, officials from across Whitehall are working with academics who are analysing social media platforms to better understand the nature and extent of the harm caused by online hate crime and the effectiveness of counter-narrative measures.

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