What recourse do you have when someone in the US starts stalking you, sending you creepy emails and threatening to make cartoons of your dad, your children and put them on T-shirts and billboards?
I had an online friend, who I've since lost contact with, stalked by someone who lived in another country a long time ago.
The problem is you can not go to law enforcers in the UK as its about whether they have broken the law where they live, not where you are. If they have stuff online which is hosted in the UK then you can challenge that with providers legay in the UK.
It's therefore a lot more difficult to persue. But not impossible. It's very much more specialised and time-consuming.
It's a issue which highlights a grey area and how power lies not with countries but social media platforms who have no proper oversight nor transparency. Hence the idea of the Internet as the wild west.
It's likely to change in the next few years but in the short term it's not particularly helpful to you. One of the problems is precisely being people doing this feel empowered because they feel they are beyond the reach of the law and untouchable.
As I say they can be pursued in some cases, so this invincibly isn't strictly true, but the barriers to prosecution make it a lot more likely.
I think the main advice my friend got in the end was to cease engagement and change her online habits completely from British police which was unhelpful to say the least.
Her experience was maybe 10 years ago now. It was an eye opener in how abuse online works.
What's going on here looks to be very similar in pattern.
It's regarded as 'normal' and acceptable behaviour in many online circles. And even outright funny to do as its 'just trolling'.
I know the effect it had on my friend. She had phonecalls to her work, messages sent to family and friends and graphic images (including photos hopped ones of herself) shared online.
Its one reason off Mumsnet I don't use female usernames, have my social media locked down and ultimately became a MN user.
It's shocking. And it's only when you see it happening that you realise how bad it is and how frightening it is for victims.