Fact check: What are the most common types of online harassment LEADING TO ARRESTS reported to UK authorities in 2024?

1. Arrests for offensive and obscene online messages are rising — numbers that surprise and alarm

Police forces reported thousands of arrests under existing communications laws, with one investigation finding over 30 arrests a day for offensive online messages and 12,183 arrests recorded in 2023 under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 and section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988, representing an almost 58% rise since pre‑pandemic levels; reporters warn 2024 patterns continued into 2025 ^{[1] [5]}. These figures underline that “offensive posts” increasingly trigger police action, though data gaps across forces mean the true scale is likely larger than recorded ^[5].

2. New Online Safety rules are reshaping what gets reported and prosecuted

The Online Safety Act introduced in 2023–24 has added specific criminal offences — including fake communications, threats, and harmful imagery such as flashing images — and forced platforms to make reporting explicit content easier, creating pathways for more cases to reach police and prosecutors. This regulatory change explains part of the increase in arrests, because platform reporting duties and defined offences generate more referrals to law enforcement, not only more criminality per se ^[2]. Analysts caution that changes in reporting architecture can substantially alter arrest statistics without reflecting a proportional change in offender behaviour ^[2].

3. Cyberstalking and youth involvement: a growing concern with policy implications

A BBC investigation covering 27 police forces found 8,365 recorded cyberstalking offences in 2024, with children as young as 10 and 11 reported to police for suspected cyberstalking, highlighting how digital forms of harassment now involve very young people and raise questions about education, safeguarding, and criminalisation of minors ^[3]. The policy trade‑off is stark: treating online harassment as a criminal matter aims to protect victims but risks entrenching criminal records for children who might better be served by education and restorative responses ^[3].

4. AI deepfakes and intimate image offences are producing high‑profile convictions

Courts have seen cases where creation and distribution of intimate images using AI led to custodial sentences, including a 2025 conviction where a man was jailed after admitting multiple counts of causing harassment without violence and sharing intimate material for sexual gratification; the case demonstrates how emerging technologies produce novel offence types and how prosecutors are using existing statutes to pursue them ^[4]. These cases have propelled calls for clearer, technology‑specific offences and tougher penalties, while also prompting debates on evidential thresholds and policing digital harms ^[4].

5. Posts that incite hatred or violence remain a distinct arrest category with national security overlap

Prosecutions for social media posts that encourage violence or hatred — including far‑right mobilising content tied to riots — have resulted in custodial sentences and international investigations, with at least two men jailed in 2024 for social media posts that stirred far‑right violence, and a separate cross‑border cyberterrorism charge linked to misinformation that allegedly fuelled unrest ^{[6] [7]}. The government’s 2024 proposal to treat extreme misogyny as terrorism signals a policy direction that could broaden the scope of policing and preventative interventions for certain online harms ^[8].

6. Data limitations and divergent narratives: why numbers don’t tell the whole story

Investigations note substantial variation in police reporting and responsiveness to information requests; some forces failed to provide full data or used inconsistent categorizations, meaning arrest totals understate or mischaracterise the true landscape ^[5]. Media narratives differ: some outlets frame rising arrests as necessary enforcement against online harm, while others characterise them as overreach into “thought crime.” Both framing choices reflect distinct agendas — victim protection versus civil liberties concerns — and complicate interpreting trends from raw arrest counts ^[5].

7. What’s missing from public accounts — context policymakers and researchers need

Public reporting highlights arrests and dramatic convictions but omits crucial context: longitudinal recidivism rates, demographic breakdowns of arrestees, outcomes beyond arrest (charges, convictions, diversion), and the role of platform moderation practices. Without these data, it is difficult to assess the effectiveness of criminalisation versus education or regulatory remedies, or to weigh harms against potential disproportionate impacts on youth and marginalized groups ^{[2] [3] [5]}.

8. Bottom line for readers tracking 2024 UK online‑harassment arrests

The most common arrest types reported to UK authorities in 2024 were for offensive or malicious communications, cyberstalking/harassment (including youth reports), sharing intimate images and AI deepfake offences, and content that incites hatred or violence; legislative change and platform reporting duties have increased referrals and prosecutions, and data gaps plus competing narratives mean numbers must be interpreted cautiously. Policymakers face a trade‑off between stronger enforcement and safeguards for civil liberties and children, a debate the public data reviewed does not yet fully resolve ^{[1] [2] [3] [6]}.