Female MPS sign letter to Facebook over ‘abuse by trolls’

FACEBOOK is allowing misogynistic trolls to “destroy” female MPS’ reputations and intimidate them out of public life, an open letter signed by nearly 100 prominent politicians has warned.

Baroness Nicky Morgan and Maria Miller, both former culture secretaries, joined legislators from across Europe, America, the Middle East and Africa – including Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US House of Representatives – to call on the firm to stem the “deluge” of hatred that they are facing online.

As well as continual threats of sexual violence or of having home addresses exposed, the letter said female politicians now also face new menaces such as manipulated “deep fake” videos and “sexualised” false impersonation social media accounts.

Facebook is under intense and mounting pressure to tackle hate speech on its platform. In recent weeks, more than 1,000 companies, including adidas, Ford and Unilever, withdrew advertising spend as part of the Stop Hate for Profit campaign.

Baroness Morgan, who cited the online abuse she has faced – including repeated death threats – as one of the reasons why she stood down as an MP last year, said the problem was putting women off running for public office.

She told The Daily Telegraph: “Unfortunately the social media platforms have provided a home, particularly, for misogynistic hate speech.

“I am alarmed that good candidates, particularly good women, are not putting themselves forward for election or are deciding to leave public life because of the abuse that they suffer via these platforms.” The Telegraph contacted Facebook for comment.