SNP MP one of the most targeted for 'toxic' online abuse

dailyrecord.co.uk:

An Ayrshire MP is one of the most targeted Scottish politicians when it comes to online abuse.Kilmarnock and Loudoun’s SNP representative, Alan Brown MP, received 11 tweets identified as ‘toxic’ in a new report on online abuse of Westminster politicians.Mr Brown was mentioned in 425 times on Twitter over a period of six weeks.

A total of 11 were deemed to be ‘toxic’ in a survey put together by the BBC data journalism team.A toxic tweet was defined as “rude, disrespectful or unreasonable comment that is likely to make someone leave a conversation”.Mr Brown said: “Clearly 'toxic' tweets should be condemned.“Abuse on social media can be horrific for some people and adversely affect their mental health.“Firmer action is required on abusive tweets; false information as well as racism and misogyny.“Worse, Elon Musk with his takeover of Twitter wants to encourage ‘free speech’.

We already saw groups previously banned from Twitter re-joining such as the racist “Britain First”."On a personal basis I try to ignore abusive tweets and block or mute people as a see fit.

In some cases reporting such tweets may be required.Both Mr Brown and Central Ayrshire MP Dr Philippa Whitford were also mentioned in one ‘severely toxic’ tweet apiece.Dr Whitford said: “While I certainly receive some rude responses on social media, I do not receive a great deal of personal abuse online but a number of my MP colleagues receive aggressive tweets on a regular basis and there’s no doubt it is a growing problem, both in terms of frequency and in viciousness.“Freedom of speech is vital for a healthy democracy, as is being able to engage with your elected representatives, but being able to hide behind a keyboard and comment anonymously has seen us drift