Charlotte Dawson, an Australian TV star, has been found dead at the age of 47. Her death has been linked to internet bullying. She was an anti-bullying activist who had been targeted online by what are called ‘cyber trolls’ a label that makes them sound more interesting than they actually are.

In reality they are the worst kind of vicious bullies, ones who do it from a distance and hide behind false identities. Any brief research on the subject will reveal scores of recent cases in the newspapers when vulnerable young people receive torrents of hateful abuse from their schoolmates, who mindlessly collude on websites to persecute the weakest and least able to defend themselves. Even the most grounded and supported young person would wilt eventually under such relentless persecution. As an adult, I can just shake my head and pity the morons when I receive, as I do occasionally, hateful comments. Then I block them. But whether you are 14 or 47, if you’re in a bad place already this kind of attack can tip you over the edge.

At least the bullying of pre-internet days was usually directed in person to the victim and therefore visible to others, who could do something about it. Now, the bullies are even more cowardly and skulk behind the anonymity of a computer screen as they conduct their hateful persecution.

The volume of this corrosive phenomenon is aided by the social network websites that we all use and which can be hugely beneficial in countless areas of our lives. Campaigns for things worth campaigning for can be focussed and conducted swiftly using, say, Twitter and Facebook. The denouncing of corruption, corporate greed, political duplicity and the mistreatment of children, old people and animals are all the benefits of the instant communication offered by these web giants. Who can deny that the benefits are legion? But, as always, the malevolent and the stupid seize the opportunities offered by instruments designed to help mankind in order to perpetrate evil. These are the same people who, when they see sandbags being brought in to flooded areas to help their less fortunate neighbours, steal them and sell them, or who break into a flooded shop in Old Amersham and steal their stock. Having a bad time eh? Let’s make it worse!

Twitter and Facebook are worth billions now. They must be able to be more proactive in weeding out the persecutors and the poisonous.