It is ’quite evident’ that our laws have not kept up with the changing nature of communication, particularly with social media.

That is according to Lawrie Hooper MHK (Ramsey), who was successful in adding A new clause to the Communications Bill, which focused on preventing harm being caused by sending messages online.

Mr Hooper told the House of Keys, which was covering the Bill’s clauses stage, that the world of social media and emails was a fast-moving one and it was ’quite clear that legislation had struggled to keep up’.

Under the new clause, the maximum penalty for offenders could be two years’ custody or a fine.

In his opening remarks, the Liberal Vannin MHK detailed to members why he felt his clause was necessary.

He gave a hypothetical example of someone working for a charity that donated money to research, which included animal testing, and their address or email being posted online, which led to harm being done to that person.

He said that under current laws, it was not clear if that was incitement to commit harm and that his amendment would seek to clear that up.

faking

Furthermore, while Manx legislation had made ’revenge porn’ illegal, it had no provision for a crime in the UK called ’deep faking’, a practice where an image of someone is superimposed onto usually a pornographic image to give the impression it is that person committing an often sexual act.

Typically, that has been committed towards celebrities, but may also affect private individuals.

Mr Hooper said he also wanted to add his clause to prevent encouragement to self harm. Recent cases in the UK have shown the impact this can have where a targeted individual has committed harm to themselves or in extreme cases, committed suicide.

He added: ’Public and private spaces are, online especially, overlapping more and more.

’So what someone might have considered a private post or interaction online for themselves and maybe their close family might suddenly become very public without their consent, perhaps an admission of mental illness or open admission of sexual orientation for example.’

Mr Hooper said his clause was ’intentionally’ broad and would seek to act as a ’backstop’ for when certain acts may ’fall between the cracks’ of current laws.

He also rejected a concern from Martyn Perkins MHK (Garff) that the clause may need a clear definition of the word harm, saying it has been well established in Manx law by both the Criminal Code of 1872 and the Criminal Justice and Police Courts Act of 2007.

And he said that he was quite happy for the courts to decide if harm had been caused or felt.

Dr Alex Allinson (Ramsey) added an amendment to Mr Hooper’s clause, which added the words ’or imagery’ to ’the extremity of the language used’. He said this further reflected the used of emojis or images in online abuse.

Chief Minister Howard Quayle gave his full support to Mr Hooper’s new clause but hoped for later clarification for it to cover mental harm.

Mr Quayle said he was ’concerned over the impact of bullying’ on a person’s mental health and if ’intent’ was stringent enough to ensure protection for vulnerable people.

Only Policy and Reform Minister Chris Thomas voting against Mr Hooper’s clause.