The Archbishop of Canterbury has raised concerns over "savage" social media users as he set out new digital guidelines issued for the first time today by the Church of England.

Justin Welby made the comments in a Facebook Live debate this morning with Facebook's EMEA vice president Nicola Mendelsohn.

It comes as the Church of England issues new social media guidelines in efforts to tackle online abuse.

He said: “You of all people know how savagely social media can be used. Look at any article and the comments below it, and very quickly you find comments which are just poison.”

The Archbishop said anger on social media is down to how we define our identity.

He said: “I think a lot of it is generally where experiencing issues around how we find out identity - who we are. When someone threatens our identity, people get understandably very angry.”

The guidelines “aim to tackle online abuse, misleading content and encourage a positive atmosphere for online conversations".

The advice, which is being called a "digital charter", includes a set of values to “encourage conversations” that reflect the value of the church, and users posting offensive material may be blocked or reported.

They will cover official Church of England accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

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