The UK today issued a new legal guidance saying online hate crimes should be treated as seriously as those committed in person, in the wake of a record country-wide spike in such offences which authorities said had a corrosive effect on the society. <br/><br/>The new guidance from Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is marking the publication of the documents with the launch of a social media campaign – #HateCrimeMatters – to encourage people to come forward and report hate crime incidents. <br/><br/>A hate crime is defined as an offence where the perpetrator is motivated by hostility or shows hostility towards the victim's disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or transgender identity. <br/><br/>The revised legal guidance sets out how prosecutors in the UK should make charging decisions and handle such cases in court.