Online trolls should lose anonymity
Gordon Strachan once had a pop at football fans hiding behind anonymous online profiles to spew vitriol and conspiracy theories.
The ex-Celtic, Man United and Scotland star described keyboard warriors as “dressed in tracksuits with their devil dogs and cans of lager”. His language drew criticism but his frustration was understandable.
The internet has transformed our lives and is even hailed as the greatest ever invention. But it is also a cesspit — a safe haven for crackpots and cowards.
In my old life as a journalist, I used Twitter’s fast-moving feed as a source of news and opinion and rarely bothered to tweet my own views.
As an MSP, it’s a useful way of communicating with the public who pay my wages. But when I started out as a politician, I decided to block replies to my tweets.
Scottish Conservative MSPs need thick skins. As Scotland’s second largest party, we are targets for frothing nationalist rabble who ooze poison, deny reality, peddle lies and usually do so anonymously.
Some people type things they would never say to your face just as others transform into seething fistshakers when behind the wheel of a car.
Scotland’s nationalist movement was quick to exploit social media with one digital guru controlling multiple ‘sock puppet’ accounts to attack rivals.
Another tactic is ‘whataboutery.’ That’s when SNP scandals and failures can be dismissed by changing the subject to another issue elsewhere and which is completely unrelated.
For these reasons, I thought it sensible to just block tiresome and dishonest responses to my tweets.
But should social media companies go further and ban anonymity altogether?
The question arose following the murder of my Tory colleague Sir David Amess MP — a hardworking and decent family man, stabbed to death while serving his beloved community.
Sir David’s murder is the latest in a spate of attacks on UK politicians, which includes the fatal stabbing of Labour’s Jo Cox five years ago.
Some commentators link these real-world atrocities to febrile online platforms fuelled by malice and hate.
While social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook must do more to root out disinformation and bullying, ending the option of anonymity seems a step too far.
Anonymous accounts can be informative and amusing and give whistleblowers protection to highlight serious issues. A hidden identity can be a matter of life or death to those living under despotic regimes.
I believe that responsibility should start with individuals and that politicians must lead by example.
Just this week, Green MSP Lorna Slater posted a tweet with the nonsensical claim that ‘the Tories have decided that making everyone miserable is their core purpose’.
She also questioned why ‘the English keep voting for them’.
Othering English people, and lumping an entire nation together as one homogenous group, is crass, divisive and offensive.
It also ignores the reality of widespread and growing Tory support in Scotland.
Casual Anglophobia is rampant in Scotland’s nationalist movement. Such bitter and divisive language makes me angry and embarrassed in equal measure.
That Slater saw fit to post this within hours of Sir David’s murder suggests chronic lack of judgement, even though she later deleted it.
As one of Nicola Sturgeon’s highly-paid ministers, she needs to think before she tweets and must take responsibility for her words.