Is social media doing enough to combat trolling?

The number of cowardly trolls sending vile messages to those who don't deserve it is on the rise.

Social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook are where these people, or 'trolls' as they are commonly known as, hide and send abusive messages to others. Do they know the damage they can cause? Do they care? Or are they just doing it so they can achieve a small and sad amount of fame?

Anyone can be the victim of trolling. The biggest case of trolling this week has been directed towards Ghostbusters movie actress Leslie Jones. Jones was part of the all female film reboot and was subjected to an unacceptable amount of racial and sexist abuse on Twitter. The all female cast has been criticised by fans but that's no excuse to send someone awful abuse. Jones had been sent some horrific tweets saying she was 'responsible for aids' and that she 'looked like a gorilla'. There was also a fake account set up that was posting equally horrific tweets whilst pretending to be her, sparking more abuse directed towards her. How low can some people go?

You wouldn't say these things to someone in person (I would hope not) and it should be the same for when you are on social media as well. Jones has since been shown a huge amount of support from others and had a hashtag dedicated to her: #LoveForLeslieJ, but what has Twitter done about this?

Jones herself has criticised Twitter for allowing people to post such hurtful messages. Well, Twitter have taken some steps to stop these trolls. Many of those who sent Jones those barbaric messages have been suspended, however many of these suspensions are only temporary and they can always log back on with a new account and keep tweeting abuse, so is it enough? Twitters CEO Jack Dorsey gave a statement saying: "This type of abusive behaviour is not permitted on Twitter, and we've taken action on many of the accounts reported to us by both Leslie and others...

We realise we still have a lot of work in front of us before Twitter is where it should be on how we handle these issues"

Trolls are nothing but keyboard warriors who don't have the backbone to say what they type in person. The last tweet from Jones, which read: "I leave Twitter tonight with tears and a very sad heart. All this cause I did a movie. You can hate the movie but the shit I got today...wrong", proves that Twitter still needs to do more to combat these disgraceful bullies. Though things are being done about it and measures are being put in place, it's not enough. The trolling must stop.