Twitter is doomed by failure to stop trolls, says MP who received 600 rape threats

A LABOUR MP who received more than 600 rape threats in one night proclaimed “Twitter is dead” as the social network does nothing to stop trolls.

Jess Phillips, the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, said she was subjected to around 5,000 Twitter notifications of people discussing whether or not they would sexually assault her.

She said that Twitter would end up losing its users unless it stops such abuse happening.

Ms Phillips revealed earlier this year that she had been sexually assaulted as a 19-year-old. The MP, who has played a leading role in the “Reclaim the Internet” campaign, said that the “ringleaders” of the abuse should face civil or criminal action. Speaking about the recent abuse, she told the BBC’s Victo

ria Derbyshire programme: “I could never block them – you would need someone employed full time to block the amount of people who have been in touch with me over the weekend.

“It’s not a solution just to block and ignore them in my case. The only solution in stopping me seeing it [the abuse] is if I stop going on Twitter which is a very real possibility.”

Ms Phillips added: “Until Twitter makes this sort of thing stop happening and stops accepting that this sort of dogpiling and mass bullying can happen, their business model is totally flawed. People who don’t like this feral side of the internet are just going to walk away.”

Twitter said it did not comment on individual cases for privacy and security reasons.