OUR TROLL TOLL

Abusive social media tests political mettle

WOULD-BE candidates are being turned off politics by abuse from online trolls as Tasmanian voters brace for a social media fuelled election campaign.

Vicious comments, fake pages and derogatory memes are all adding to the stress of public life for the state’s politicians.

They can expect more as a likely March poll looms, with the major parties and experts telling the Mercury online campaigning is on in earnest.

Women politicians were among the most targeted by haters, Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said.

She said potential candidates, particularly women, would have second thoughts about entering politics in this climate

“I’ve been called a stupid slut on social media, a mad Green bitch,” Ms O’Connor said. “It does affect you.

“Obviously as a member of Parliament I’ve got the skin of a rhinoceros but there’ll be all sorts of people who don’t have my level of professional resilience who are copping this.”

Lord Mayor and potential Liberal candidate Sue Hickey fell victim to an anonymous “fake news” Facebook site, calling in police to deal with it.

“I can’t think of someone who would actually hate me that much,” she said.

“You have to be more selfaware when you are out by yourself because you just don’t know who you are going to run into.

“I think women cop it more, especially when it comes to politicians.”

Statistics show two-thirds of girls in years 6-12 have been cyberbullied and a quarter of cyber-bullies target people they don’t know.

Health Minister Michael Ferguson’s lengthy political career has coincided with the rise of social media, including the switch from personal Facebook sites to professional pages on the popular platform.

“You shouldn’t be exposing your family to that kind of inquiry and ridicule, and I have experienced that where a person was actually going through holiday photos and making negative comments about a member of my family,” Mr Ferguson said.

Labor candidate David O’Byrne says he has only blocked one troll in his social media interactions, but debate is often willing.

“You just get people who get their kicks out of getting on every post and having a crack,” he said.

The recent rise in official and unofficial memes – images sending up politicians – has pushed the boundaries of good taste, but Mr O’Byrne said voters were turned off when they crossed the line.

“Whilst the theory says negative campaigns work, on Facebook you can tell by people engaging with it that they don’t like that sort of stuff,” he said.

Digital Dandy’s Jen Murnaghan says political players should ignore trolls, block them and report them.

“If there’s good debate going on, great. But if there’s just inflammatory, impolite, crude exchanges going on, I feel anyone has the right to just get rid of those people,” she said.

University of Tasmania marketing lecturer Louise Grimmer agrees.

“We want our politicians to be genuine and authentic but there is a fine line between being yourself on your social media account and tweeting or posting on Facebook in the style of Donald Trump,” she said. “Basically, keep it nice.”