CYBER BULLIES ONLINE TODAY
‘I know how alone and vulnerable you feel’
when my friend told me about it,” says Emily. “I took it very seriously because Keeley had done so many crazy things. I was literally shaking with fear.”
Worcester magistrates court heard that Houghton had written: “Keeley is going to murder the ***** . She is an actress.what a **** ing liberty. Emily **** head Moore.”
A distraught Emily asked Facebook to take down the threat but they initially refused and did not even respond to her complaints.
“During that time her friends created a Facebook page called ‘Keeley Houghton is not a bully’,” says Emily. “They wrote horrible things about me and painted her as a victim.
“I was in complete shock that Facebook would allow them to do that during an active trial.”
Emily escaped the trauma by backpacking across Australia, New Zealand and Asia the following year.
She studied drama and performance art at Worcester University and in 2016 she married Justin, the boyfriend she met while she was still at school.
Around the same time she almost bumped into Houghton – who later went on the This Morning show on ITV to apologise for her behaviour – at a Poundland store.
“I dropped my bags and left,” she says. “I was not scared but I did not want to speak to her.”
Adds Emily: “I still use Facebook because it’s a good way of staying in touch and to stop would be accepting, in a small way, that the bullies have won. But my message to the social media companies is that it’s time to make the internet safe.
“If trolling or bullying is happening on their websites, they should immediately step in and ban the people responsible.
“It might cost money to stop the abuse but no one should have to go through what I went through. I also want to say how important it is that people being bullied reach out and get help.
“So many young people end up taking their own lives after being tormented at school or on social media. I never went down that route, thankfully, but I do know how alone and vulnerable you can feel when you are being picked on.
“It’s really important you tell someone what is happening, whether that is a parent, a teacher, a professional or the police – and social media companies have a responsibility to help too.
“I hope that in five years we can look back and wonder how we ever allowed things to get as bad as they are now.”
● Anyone suffering from bullying can call the Mind charity’s infoline on 0300 123 3393