Social media trolls could be jailed for up to two years in new clampdown following racist abuse of England stars

SOCIAL media trolls will be jailed for up to two years under tough new laws to be examined by Ministers following the abuse of England stars.

Legal experts will publish proposals this week to bring in laws to keep pace with the rise of smartphones, social media and the internet which trolls are exploiting.

Five people were arrested this week on suspicion of abusing England players – Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka – who missed penalties in the Euros final.

The report is also expected to recommend creating new offences targeting those who encourage self-harm online or who send unsolicited x-rated pictures of themselves known as “cyber flashing”.

Sources say anyone causing “serious distress” to victims could be punished with up to two years in prison.

It’s understood the Law Commission proposals will recommend replacing the Communications Act and Malicious Communications Act with new rules to prosecute web abusers.

Ministers could use the upcoming Online Harms legislation to adopt the proposals.

A government source said: “The targeting of England’s football heroes has shown yet again the need to clean up social media.

“Our new online safety laws will make these companies accountable for what happens on their sites with multi billion pound fines if they fail to act.

“But we have to make our criminal law fit for purpose too so we can bring those who use social media as weapons to ruin people’s lives to justice.

“We will look at these new proposals carefully.”

Social media firms are set to face tough new sanctions including fines of up to ten per cent of turnover if they fail to tackle harmful material on their platforms.

Ministers also intend on extending Football Banning Orders to include those who abuse online can be banned for up to ten years.