Katie Price wins support from MPs after campaigning against online abuse

Katie Price has won the support of MPs for a new law after launching a campaign against online bullying.

The former glamour model and mother-of-five wants to introduce ‘Harvey’s Law’, named after her eldest son, after he was targeted online for his disability.

More than 220,000 people have signed Price’s petition to make online abuse a criminal offence and to make a register of offenders.

MPs on the Petitions Committee now want Government to give protection to disabled people under hate crime laws.

Chair of the committee, Helen Jones, said: “Social media is rife with horrendous, degrading and dehumanising comments about people with disabilities.

“The law on online abuse is not fit for purpose and it is truly shameful that disabled people have been forced off social media while their abusers face no consequences.”

Price told MPs that “the most horrific things” had been said about her son Harvey, who is partially blind, autistic and has the genetic disorder Prader-Willi syndrome.

“They know he hasn’t got a voice back and they mock him more… they find him an easy target,” she said in February 2018.

After hearing that online abuse can destroy people’s careers, social lives and mental health, MPs made a list of recommendations to protect disabled people from abuse online.

The recommendations included giving disabled people the same protections under hate crime laws as those who receive abuse due to their race or religion.

Back in December, Price hit out at a collection of Christmas jumpers mocking her son Harvey.

Sweaters featuring a cartoon image of Harvey, accompanied by the phrase “Hello you c***”, were being sold online, prompting Price declare her disgust.

“Why do people continue to mock my son? If these people met Harvey they would feel disgusted,” she wrote on Twitter at the time.

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