Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
HARVEY HATE TROLLS DROVE ME TO PRIORY
Katie calls for law to protect people like her son online
KATIE Price was driven to check herself into The Priory after vicious online bullying and trolling of her disabled son Harvey.
The former model was admitted to the rehabilitation clinic in despair as sick trolls targeted her eldest.
Katie, 42, is campaigning to introduce Harvey’s Law – which would clamp down on web bullies – and made the admission as she spoke to MPS yesterday.
Legislation would also draw up a register so they can be “named and shamed”.
Speaking to the Commons Petitions Committee, she said: “I get a lot of trolling and online abuse. The difference is I’m able to speak out myself, but my son Harvey was born with disabilities, he gets a lot of racial abuse, disgusting despicable things. “He gets memes made about it, Tiktoks, posters, he gets mocked in such a serious, disgusting way. There has to be some kind of justice.” Katie added: “They need to be banned.
“If you go and get a mortgage or a car, they want to know your name, your address, credit checks – why can’t they do it on social media? There is not enough protection.”
The mum-of-five said she did not want to stop Harvey, 18, who is autistic and partially blind, enjoying social media. She said: “Why should he stop doing it? Why should I be told I can’t let him enjoy that, when others do? I’m sick of it, it’s become draining.
“I ended up going in The Priory myself at the beginning of this year because of the bullying, the trolling – we’re only human. I can see how people end up committing suicide...”
Committee chair and Labour MP Catherine Mckinnell said: “There is a big problem and it is getting worse.
“Something needs to be done. This is not going to resolve itself, it needs intervention. We need to make online a safe place to be.”
The Government has said it plans an Online Harms Bill to hold websites accountable if they fail to tackle harmful content online.