A MAN approaches you in the street. He insults you using the most coarse and sexualised language, then he says he wishes you were dead. He says he wants to watch someone kill you. He says he wants to physically assault you, or even kill you himself.

That man’s feet would not touch the ground if you reported him to the police. He’d be arrested, put on trial, and if convicted, he’d be lucky to avoid jail. Most probably he’d spend at least a few months behind bars, and when he came out he’d likely never offend again, thanks to the shame and punishment that had been heaped upon him. He’d also, hopefully, have undergone a victim awareness programme, designed to give him some insight into just how appalling his crimes were, and to instil a sense of empathy with fellow human beings.

Now switch the locus of that crime from the street to the online world, to the wild west of Twitter and Facebook. Every minute of every day, abusive criminal bullies are threatening rape, violence and murder against people – mostly women – who have the temerity to hold a simple opinion and voice it. Only a handful are ever prosecuted, even fewer are jailed and so deterred from offending again.

There is no difference to the victim whether a threat is uttered in the street or on social media. In fact, an online threat can be even more frightening. At least in the street, you can see your assailant, other people may be around to protect you or witness the offence; in the online world when confronted with a nameless, faceless, threatening troll, the sense of isolation only compounds the fear.

Social media companies – specifically Twitter – have had their fun too long. They are making money while apparently looking the other way as threats and abuse come to dominate public discourse. The police must also up their game. Of course, policing new technology is difficult – but put your shoulder to the wheel here, officers, people are being subjected to the most appalling threats and it is your job to protect them.

Today, the Sunday Herald is beginning our campaign to jail online criminal abusers. As you can see from our coverage today, if even the First Minister of this country, and the leaders of the two main opposition parties, are the victims of the most horrific catalogue of threats and hate, then who can feel truly safe and comfortable online?

Here is one suggestion that may help us make progress towards cleaning up the cesspit that is social media: let’s summon the leading executives of Twitter and Facebook to Holyrood and get them to explain why they are presiding over what amounts to a free-for-all when it comes to hate and threats. Perhaps being carpeted by committee in front of the nation’s lawmakers might focus the minds of these so-called pioneers of the great digital age.