Abuse targeting O’Gorman’s children ‘didn’t break Twitter rules’
COLM O’Gorman has spoken out about Twitter’s “messed-up policies” after the social media platform found “no violations” in a tirade of abuse sent to him this week.
The executive director of Amnesty Ireland and outspoken victim of clerical abuse shared screenshot images of the tweets sent by the troll over the weekend, alongside the response from Twitter.
The homophobic tweets sent by the anonymous user targeted Mr O’Gorman’s family, but a reply from Twitter said it did not go against its rules on abusive behaviour.
According to Twitter, abusive behaviour is seen as an attempt to “harass, intimidate, or silence someone else’s voice”.
Mr O’Gorman described the rules as “seriously flawed” for allowing the tweets and users account to remain public yesterday afternoon.
“Twitter, if this bile doesn’t violate your rules against abusive behaviour, then your rules are seriously flawed,” Mr O’Gorman said.
“You can’t claim to be antihate and permit this. Shame on you.”
Mr O’Gorman added that he wanted to highlight the issue to bring awareness to Twitter’s response.
“Point is this stuff causes real harm. And it’s targeted, he uses my kids’ names. “I highlight this not because I give a flying fig about what he or she thinks, but because of what it reveals about Twitters ongoing appalling attitude to such obvious and targeted abuse.”
It is understood Mr O’Gorman received a further update from Twitter that said, after reviewing the account, it would be suspended for “violating Twitter’s hateful conduct policy”.