Banning anonymous social media accounts won’t stop hate speech

In the wake of the tragic death of the member of parliament for Southend West, David Amess, fellow MPs have been talking about how to best protect both politicians and the public from abuse and harm. This has included a strong focus on enacting laws designed to halt online abuse, even though police have not linked Amess’s killing to this issue directly. There have been suggestions that such abuse can be attributed, at least in part, to online anonymity – that is, the fact many socia