CYBERNASTY CRACKDOWN
MEP calls on SNP to ban members from anonymous social media posts – and urges other parties to do same
A SENIOR nationalist has called on the SNP to ban members from running anonymous social media accounts in a bid to stamp out online abuse.
The measure is among proposals put forward by MEP Alyn Smith in an attempt to reduce “unpleasant” internet exchanges across the political spectrum.
Smith says the SNP should create a compulsory code of conduct on social media use for all members.
And he urged other political parties to introduce similar rules for their own members.
He said: “I would like to see a specific code of conduct in my own party with four or five simple points that everyone agrees on, including a ban on the kind of anonymous accounts which seem to enable people to be so unpleasant.
“I also think all the parties, either through their leaders or their chief executives, could sign some kind of code of online decency.
“As an out-gay pro-European nationalist, I am no stranger to abuse but I am fed up of whataboutery from one side or another.”
The intervention follows high-profile cases of vile online behaviour from supporters of various political parties across the UK.
Two new Tory councillors – Alastair Majury and Robert Davies – were suspended by the party earlier this year over abusive messages sent from anonymous Twitter accounts.
And during the 2015 general election campaign, SNP candidate Neil Hay was named as the person behind the abusive Paco McSheepie Twitter account.
Hardcore supporters of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn have also frequently engaged in abuse of opponents in the party and outside.
Smith said there was an attitude that “everything my team say is correct and anything yours say is a cynical distortion of the truth”.
He added: “I think there is also the proven tactic of using abuse to shut down debate (I am looking at you, President Trump) being practised in Scottish cyberspace too.
“If extremists and blowhards polarise discussion and drive regular folks offline, we all lose.
“Debate by all means, ridicule certainly – but how about Scotland’s politicians stop trying to divide the world into goodies and baddies and urge supporters to do likewise?”
A Scottish Tory spokesman said: “Alyn Smith is absolutely right that we need to see a crackdown on those who post the vile insults we see all too regularly on social media.
“There is no place for those cowards in Scottish politics who hide their identity behind a fake, abusive profile. “We all have to acknowledge that while ‘cybernats’ may have been the trailblazers, all parties have problems of this type.”
A Labour spokesman added: “All forms of abuse are unacceptable, including online abuse.”