‘Make tech bosses culpable for poison their sites spread’
MP joins our fight against the online trolls
DAME Margaret Hodge has given her backing to the Express campaign to curb social media giants after being bombarded with vile messages online.
The Labour MP wants the likes of Twitter and Facebook to record the identities of users as payment system PayPal does.
Dame Margaret, 76, also demanded a new law to make tech company directors personally responsible for the internet poison they help spread.
The MP for Barking spoke out after being targeted for fighting anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.
The Community Security Trust, which monitors racial hatred and antiSemitism, found she had 90,000 mostly-negative online references in October and November.
They included death threats and insults like “Zionist hag”, “Nazi” and “Palestinian child murderer”. She told the Daily Express: “In the early days, social media was a really democratic way of allowing people new ways of engaging in debates.
“But it has now been abused. It has become a way of shutting down democratic debate. I’ve reluctantly come to the view that we need action.”
This newspaper is demanding that social media companies clean up their messaging platforms or face tougher penalties from the Government.
One of the most popular proposals is for the tech giants to register their users’ names and contact details before allowing them to post.
Campaigners say most keyboard assassins fire away anonymously from profiles identified only by nicknames or handles.
Dame Margaret said: “The analogy is PayPal. You can’t have an account if they don’t know who you are.
“It’s not that the identity would necessarily be made public. You want to protect domestic violence victims, whistleblowers and others who legitimately need anonymity.
“But if they use it for abuse or hate, there is a duty for the company to provide the offenders’ identity to the authorities.”
She also wants the tech giants’ directors to be made personally responsible for breaking laws designed to protect people from trolls. Dame Margaret spoke out after receiving a torrent of abuse after exposing anti-Semitism in Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party.
Despite being a seasoned political campaigner, she was unnerved by the vitriol aimed at her on Twitter, Facebook, by email and through her website.
She said: “As much as the abuse is awful, that campaign to undermine me as an authoritative voice is very, very dangerous. “
Her calls for action echo those of Daily Express columnist Richard Madeley, who also wants social media users to register their identities.
Last week, professional football bodies wrote to Facebook and Twitter to demand more action against racists who troll black stars.