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A new law that would make online abuse a criminal offense could be in effect by Christmas.
“Coco’s Law” is named after Nicole Fox Fenlon, a young woman who took her own life in 2018 after a period of online abuse.
Fenlon, also known as Coco, suffered a campaign of harassment that led her mother, Jackie Fox, to campaign for stricter laws.
Ms. Fox presented a petition to TDs in the Dáil today, urging them to go ahead and pass the legislation.
“Just delivering the petition today, it was guaranteed now, I received an email from the Minister of Justice assuring me that the Coco law will come into effect before Christmas, and other TDs and Ministers said it will arrive long before Christmas,” said Ms. Fox said.
Criminal offenses
The bill of the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Crimes Bill has included a number of new criminal offenses to suppress online bullying and harassment.
The crimes include taking and distributing intimate images without consent; online or digital harassment; a specific crime of stalking; an expanded offense of sending threatening or indecent messages; and “revenge porn.”
“They are going to turn online harassment into a criminal offense where you could receive up to seven years in which it causes someone to self-harm or take their own life, that’s up to seven years and there is a fine of, I think, 2,500,” he said Ms. Fox said.
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