The bullies hiding behind our internet

Time for Twitter and the other internet companies to act.

It’s been a bad summer for internet giants.

First Amazon was found to be dodging tax, then Facebook was accused of sharing customer details with American security officials.

Now Twitter has been standing by while women account holders are threatened with rape and murder for the “crime” of backing Jane Austen on the new Bank of England £10 note.

Exactly. It’s a bizarre plotline no author could have dreamt up let alone the gently satirical author of novels such as Pride And Prejudice.

The rammy began when the Bank of England planned to replace prison reformer Elizabeth Fry with Winston Churchill on banknotes removing the only woman other than the Queen to appear.

Campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez set up an online petition, threatened legal action under the 2010 Equality Act, and won. Jane Austen was announced as the new face of the English tenner last month.

And that tiny triumph for women prompted a deluge of hostile tweets, including threats to rape and kill Caroline along with Stella Creasey, the London MP who took up her case. Even after the redoubtable duo reported the abuse to police, the campaign escalated last week with bomb threats against several female journalists again via Twitter.

So what on earth is going on? Well, threatening rape is a crime and two men have been arrested.

But although most folk will back shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper who described the abuse as “disgraceful, appalling and unacceptable”, some will quietly think gals should “toughen up” and accept online hate messages and bomb threats as part of the “rough and tumble” that comes with involvement in a robust public world.

“If you can’t stand the heat,” goes the old saying, “get out of the kitchen”.

And that’s the true intent of the Twitter thugs. They want to intimidate and silence anyone who threatens their allegiances or outlook and women aren’t the only targets.

My friend Alex Thompson is the Channel 4 correspondent who unearthed much of the scandal about Rangers that resulted in their financial collapse and demotion. Sitting beside him on a train one day I scrolled through his daily Twitter traffic. The abuse was horrendous, personal, threatening and sick.

Alex though is thick-skinned. He has reported from war-torn Syria, Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan. Perhaps facing real violence and suffering helps put Twitter threats into perspective. Sympathising with Alex’s plight on Twitter I got a week of the same treatment with nasty, threatening, personal messages until I retweeted them all, making the words and identity of each attacker public.

Outraged readers then retweeted them (this is how Twitter works folks) and before long the “private” threats had become widely circulated. That was humiliating for me but much, much worse for the sender whose friends and family could now see his “hidden side”.

But what happens when the sender is anonymous? That’s why people need Twitter to act.

Caroline Criado-Perez tried to contact Twitter’s head of news. He blocked her.

Twitter’s director for trust and safety said that, without the location of threatening tweets, the firm can’t identify the correct police force to alert. Purlease.

Only when Twitter faced a boycott today did UK boss, Tony Wang see sense, apologise and promise to install a “report abuse” button.

Fine. But that system needs adequate staffing to work. Will the online giant pay for that?

This row started over recognition for the talented author of Sense And Sensibility.

We need both from Twitter now!