Female politicians unite in backing campaign to force a Twitter clampdown on violent abuse online

FORMER Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale has revealed she received three death threats as she backed a campaign urging Twitter to do more to stop online abuse.

Ms Dugdale joined Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson to reveal the extent of the hate-filled invective hurled at female politicians.

The three politicians are supporting Amnesty’s Toxic Twitter campaign challenging the social media giant to take steps to address the problem.

A Yougov survey of 1,110 British women commissioned by the charity found only 9% thought Twitter was doing enough to stop violence and abuse against women.

Ms Dugdale revealed she had gone to the police a few years ago after one user suggested she should be bayoneted. She said: “If I were to show you my Twitter @reply column just now, 90% of it would be abuse.

“Now I have to look at that every time to scroll through the good stuff trying to find those people who are genuinely trying to engage.

“Probably 10 or 20 times a day I am scrolling through absolute mountains of abuse. There’s different levels of abuse and harassment within that spectrum, some of it very serious indeed. Three times in the six years I’ve been an elected politician I’ve felt it serious enough to report to the police. That’s involved three death threats.”

Ms Davidson said the volume of abuse sometimes made her feel “hunted” online.

Ms Sturgeon said that while social media was “by and large a real force for good”, she was worried about the impact of online abuse on prospective female politicians.