Trolls don’t exist in real life, so why let them run wild on social media?

IMAGINE being in a supermarket or pub or waiting for a bus. You’re minding your own business when someone – a total stranger – walks up and tells you exactly what they think about your choice of clothes or your hairstyle or your taste in ready meals.

They are nasty, abusive even, and you’ve done nothing to invite such vitriol. And then they go about their business without a backward glance.

It wouldn’t happen, would it? Not in real life where your abuser would have to look you in the eye.

Yet on social media it’s the norm.

Unencumbered by face-to-face contact, protected in many cases by anonymity, trolls have turned social media platforms into the Wild West except, instead of using guns, they fire off words. But words can be just as deadly as bullets.

I am not going to speculate on the reasons poor Caroline Flack took her own life. The causes of any suicide are complex and rarely down to one thing.

But her death has once again shone a light on social media and its dark and sinister tendrils, which can wrap around anyone, celebrity or not.

Social media can, of course, be an enormous force for good. It helps connect people, entertains and informs. It is a great way to get a message or an appeal out there. It can show us the best of human nature.

It can also show the worst. It amplifies and provides an outlet for the things we all sometimes feel but seldom act upon. It takes negativity and those basic human emotions – jealousy, fear, fury at perceived injustice – and weaponsises them.

And because those who would do harm with their words can hide behind their keyboards, saying whatever they think without fear of retribution, it can be very dangerous.

I think the time has now come for regulation. Anonymous accounts should no longer be acceptable. Those using those platforms should have to register. Don’t talk to me about infringement of privacy either – if you’re not going to do wrong then what’s the problem?

Of course, regulation may have made no difference to poor Caroline. As I say, only she knew for sure what events drove her to end her life.

But we should never forget that words matter. And that actions speak louder than words.