Justin Bieber slams 'mean' fans

Justin Bieber has had enough with his fans saying hateful things about his new 'girlfriend'. Photo / AP

Justin Bieber has threatened to privatise his social media after his fans unleashed a torrent of abuse towards his new "girlfriend" Sofia Richie.

Bieber, 22, has been spotted out and about with Richie, 17, in Tokyo, sharing a series of road trip shots in which the couple appear to be very loved up.

Richie, the daughter of music legend Lionel Richie, also shared a couple of images of the pair while on holiday in Japan.

"I'm gonna make my Instagram private if you guys don't stop the hate this is getting out of hand, if you guys are really fans you wouldn't be so mean to people that I like," he wrote.

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I'm gonna make my Instagram private if you guys don't stop the hate this is getting out of hand, if you guys are really fans you wouldn't be so mean to people that I like

A post shared by Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) on Aug 13, 2016 at 10:34pm PDT

Bieber's fans have long been possessive of who he is dating since he split from on-again, off-again girlfriend, Selena Gomez.

Bieber had dated model Hailey Baldwin and was rumoured to be seeing Australian model Sahara Ray.

However, Bieber appears to be serious about Richie and is not afraid to tell his fans about it.