More than 50,000 abusive and offensive tweets were sent celebrating Labour MP Jo Cox’s murder and lauding her killer, Thomas Mair, as a “hero” or “patriot” in the month following her death, prompting calls for the government to do more to tackle hate speech online. According to researchers on the social media site, the tweets were sent from at least 25,000 individuals and have been interpreted by hate crime campaigners as a sign of an emboldened extreme rightwing support base. Why didn't the Daily Mail put the jailing of Jo Cox's murderer on its front page? It also calls for more social media training to be carried out in schools and recommends improved responses to online hate from social media companies. Free speech does not equal hate speech, which can have very real consequences and impact in communities in the UK.”

Source: The Guardian November 26, 2016 14:28 UTC