In December of 2017, the adult industry was devastated by the death of August Ames. The adult performer took her life after an online incident now known as a Twitter pile-on.

Prior to her death, she left the parting words “Fuck Y’all” to those who were bullying her online.

Online bullying isn’t an uncommon occurrence. It happens every single day on some level.

The UK government has decided to take action because when it happens, it can have devastating effects on a person’s psychological state, as evident in the August Ames case.

In the proposed Online Safety Bill, meant to combat abuse and hatred on the internet, trolls could face two years in prison for sending messages or posting content that causes psychological harm.

The United Kingdon’s Department for Culture, Media & Sport has accepted recommendations from the Law Commission for crimes to be based on “likely psychological harm”.

The proposed law change will shift the focus on to the “harmful effect” of a message rather than if it contains “indecent” or “grossly offensive” content, which is the present basis for assessing its criminality. A new offense of “threatening communications” will target messages and social media posts that contain threats of serious harm.

Opponents to the bill argue that if a person is so upset about what is being said about them online, they should just walk away from their computer.

But as we learned in the case of August Ames, that’s much easier said than done.

While there were many contributing factors to August Ames taking her own life, most admit the online bullying or the “piling on” didn’t help and was most definitely a large factor in her decision to take her own life that fateful date in December of 2017.

While not yet a law, the bill if passed, will criminalize certain behavior that causes “emotional, psychological, or physical harm to the likely audience.”

The UK says they are looking to make laws fit for the digital age.

It’s not clear yet if the bill will pass but for many who suffer abuse online, including many in the adult industry, they see it as a step in the right direction. While others stand hard against it, saying it’s trying to limit their freedoms.