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Bomb threats on Twitter made against female journalists

Police are investigating bomb threats made on social networking site Twitter against several female journalists.

Guardian columnist Hadley Freeman, Independent columnist Grace Dent and Time magazine's Catherine Mayer all said they had been threatened.

Anonymous account-holders tweeted that bombs had been placed outside their homes, primed to explode at 22:47 BST.

It follows rape threats made on Twitter against MP Stella Creasy and feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez. Meanwhile, a petition calling on Twitter to do more to prevent online abuse has topped 100,000 signatures.

Doctoral student Kate Maltby said she had received an identical threat to the three journalists. "Looks like a campaign," she wrote.

'Woman with profile'
Sara Lang, a social media manager for US-based campaign group AARP, said she too had received a bomb threat, but police in Washington DC had since confirmed that her house was safe.

Freeman, who had earlier published a column entitled "how to use the internet without being a total loser", reported the threats to the Metropolitan Police.

The anonymous author of the tweet had "failed to understand my column", she wrote.

An investigation into the threats, which make the tweeters liable to be arrested, was then launched, a Met spokesman confirmed.

The anonymous accounts have since been suspended, but screen grabs of the tweets have been circulated on the social media site.

Mayer said she had been tempted to ignore and delete the "not very credible-sounding" tweet.

But the police advised her, Dent and Freeman not to stay at their homes overnight and had searched her building for suspicious devices, she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Freeman remained home as she "did not think it was worth taking that seriously".

She explained there was no rationale for why she was targeted, adding: "There's some kind of assumption that you have done something, that you must have written something particularly controversial...

"My great crime is that I'm a woman with some small amount of public profile - that is enough it seems."

'Twitter moderators'
The incidents follow separate rape threats on Twitter against Labour MP Stella Creasy and Caroline Criado-Perez, who had successfully campaigned to have author Jane Austen depicted on the new £10 note.

Freeman added: "Threatening to bomb and rape people is illegal. We need to apply the law in the same way online as we do in the real world.

"There should be a button to report abuse more easily. Twitter makes millions - they can afford some moderators."

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-23523539

THOUGHTS?

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 1

Ripper-Roo

My view is that nobody (regardless of how annoying their views are) should have their private property threatened by bombs or intruders, so if they were actually threatened by bombs, then the police should intervene. It just seems like a few anonymous account holders letting off steam and cause a bit of a stir, rather than intending to let bombs off in their house. Also, Freeman's assertion that it's "because she's a woman" is irritating, she comes across as a bit whiny but I haven't read any of her articles.

Twitter abuse happens all of the time, it's not right that someone should feel violated, but the police do overreact (like the tweet made to Tom Daley last year) and I don't think the account holders should be arrested unless there was intent to release bombs - which seems unlikely.