Social media post offences
Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request ref: 01/FIN/24/2611
Version Date: 17/12/2024
The Performance & Analysis Department have provided the following information.
To obtain this data, I ran a search within the Niche Crime database for all crimes with linked arrests, where any of the following keywords appeared within the occurrence summary:
- ‘social media’
- ‘facebook’
- ‘twitter’
- ‘tweet’
- ‘meta’
- ‘instagram’
- ‘threads’
- ‘snapchat’
- ‘tiktok’
- ‘tik tok’
- ‘tick tock’
- ‘ticktock’
- ‘reddit’
- ‘twitch’
- ‘tumblr’
- ‘youtube’
- ‘you tube’.
We then filtered these occurrences on relevant offence Descriptions, and any that had a null value
Data Limitations
Figures are dependent on the specific keywords being recorded in the occurrence summary
Niche was introduced to the force on 21 May 2015, so information is only held from then until 19 Nov 2024.
1) How many people have been arrested for posts on social media?
Please Note:
While the arrest may relate to a social media post it does not mean the post itself is offensive or even public.
For example the post may form part of a campaign of harassment or stalking or be in breach of a restraining order
|
Offence Description |
2015* |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024** |
|
Harassment |
6 |
19 |
12 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
|
|
|
Malicious Communications |
2 |
4 |
5 |
2 |
7 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
|
Public fear, alarm or distress |
|
2 |
1 |
|
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Racially or religiously aggravated public fear, alarm or distress |
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
Stalking |
|
1 |
|
|
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
|
|
Threat or possession with intent to commit criminal damage |
2 |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
Threats to Kill |
2 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
12 |
27 |
19 |
7 |
10 |
7 |
3 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
*From 21 May 2015
**Up to 19 Nov 2024.
2) How many people have been charged over social media posts?
The table below is based on the offences in Q1 with the following outcomes
- Charged
- Summonsed/postal requisition
- Alternate offence charged
- Alternate offence summonsed/postal requisition
|
Offence Description |
2015* |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024** |
|
Harassment |
2 |
9 |
5 |
3 |
|
2 |
|
2 |
|
|
|
Malicious Communications |
1 |
2 |
2 |
|
2 |
|
|
1 |
1 |
|
|
Public fear, alarm or distress |
|
1 |
1 |
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Racially or religiously aggravated public fear, alarm or distress |
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Stalking |
|
1 |
|
|
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
|
|
Threats to Kill |
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
3 |
14 |
9 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
*From 21 May 2015
**Up to 19 Nov 2024.
3) How many people have been convicted over social media posts?
Conviction data is held by the Courts and not the Police
Please could it be broken down into the following years? 2014 to 2024