Trolling is the new title given to harassment that takes place on the Internet. A common example of trolling would be sending provocative messages through a communications platform for the pure entertainment of the sender, which would then have a detrimental effect on the recipient. There are different types of trolling; messages sent to harm others for the sender's gratification are called “flame trolls,” and those intended to entertain others for their gratification have been given the title “congratulation trolls” (Bishop 2012a, 2012b). When these actions can give rise to legal recourse, they are called "electronic message defects" and when the message does not constitute an infringement of "electronic message freedoms", and nothing prevents, rightly, those of express freedom of expression online. There has been widespread controversy over whether the Internet should be left to its own methods of self-regulation or whether an authoritative body should be established to protect Internet users. Statistics show that an increase in internet trolling and cyberbullying correlates with increased interest in social media and social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter. There has been a change in the way legislation has been used due to the increase in social media; The Malicious Communications Act 1988 has seen a sudden increase in its use since the invention of Facebook, which is used to prosecute many people and sentence them to eighteen weeks' imprisonment when found guilty of the offense trolling (Bishop 2012b). The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 introduced a provision which makes electronic documents which have been altered by unlawful use of communications systems admissible as evidence in court. The...... middle of paper...... Avatars and characters. In Social Networking Communities and Dating Services: Concepts and Implications, edited by C. Romm-Livermore and K. Setzekorn. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.Bishop, J. 2010. “Tough on Data Misuse, Tough on the Causes of Data Misuse: Examining New Labor's Approach in information security and regulating the misuse of digital information (1997-2010). » International Journal of Law, Computers and Technology 24 (3): 299-303. Bishop, J. 2011. “All's Well That Ends WELL: A Comparative Analysis of the Constitutional and Administrative Frameworks of Cyberspace and the United Kingdom.” » In Investigating Cyber ​​Law and Cyber ​​Ethics: Issues, Impacts and Practices, edited by A. Dudley-Sponaugle and J. Braman. Hershey, PA: IGI Global. Tan, L.M. and M. Newman. 1991. “Computer Misuse and the Law.” International Journal of Information Management 11 (4): 282–291.