Internet users who encourage self-harm could be jailed for up to five years, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has said.
Additions to the Online Safety Bill will make it a crime to encourage someone to cause serious self-harm, regardless of whether or not victims go on to injure themselves.
The offence will add to existing laws which make it illegal to encourage or assist someone to take their own life.
Ministers previously announced the promotion of self-harm would be criminalised but on Thursday confirmed the maximum penalty for the offence upon conviction would be imprisonment for five years.
‘Cowardly Trolls’
Police or prosecutors will only have to prove communication was intended to encourage or assist serious self-harm amounting to grievous bodily harm—this could include serious injuries such as broken bones or permanent scarring….