U.K. Justice Secretary Chris Grayling

Harassing tweets and Facebook comments might seem like a fact of life on the Internet, but they could soon carry a two-year prison sentence in the United Kingdom.

U.K. Justice Secretary Chris Grayling told The Daily Mail  on Sunday that the current six-month penalties for internet trolls could soon be quadrupled.

Grayling spoke about his new bill just days after the recent online harassment of British TV personality Chloe Madeley. Madeley was the target of vicious rape and death threats on Twitter after her mother, Judy Finnigan, made controversial remarks about a Sheffield United athlete convicted of rape. Grayling called the harassment “crude and degrading.”

While the anonymity of the internet has given a voice to marginalized groups in countries suffering from strict government censorship, it has also created a platform for hate speech and harassment with seemingly no repercussions. Several anti-cyberbullying campaigns such as StopBullying.gov have been successful in raising awareness of the issue, but creating legislation against online harassment has not been easy. Earlier this year, a New York court ruled against an anti-cyberbullying law, saying that the law violated U.S. free speech laws.

Labour MP Stella Creasy, herself a target of Twitter trolls, believes that harsher penalties may not be enough to solve the problem, instead saying that authorities need better training to spot and assess online harassment. Creasy said:

It’s no good saying we’ll extend sentences if we’re still reaching that barrier where people say, ‘Well someone sent you a message online, don’t be offended by it.’

Grayling’s proposed bill, which is already being dubbed “Chloe’s Law,” is currently still under review in parliament.