Ban racist words on Twitter - Jewish MP campaigns as trolls continue to attack
A JEWISH Labour MP campaigning against racist language on social media is still being targeted by trolls.
Luciana Berger, shadow minister for public health, was receiving up to 800 hate messages a day on Twitter at the height of abuse she was receiving due to her religion.
She has hit out at the length of time it took Twitter to remove the offensive messages, and has called on the social media outlet to automatically ban tweets containing racist language.
At the peak of her abuse, Miss Berger received 2,500 hate tweets in three days using an offensive hashtag.
In fear of violent attacks by trolls whom she claimed were white supremacists, she increased security at her home, even fitting shatterproof windows and a "bomb bag at the back of my post boxes".
In October, Garron Helm, from Litherland, north of Liverpool, was handed a four-week custodial sentence at Merseyside Magistrates Court for sending an anti-Semitic tweet to Miss Berger.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Miss Berger called on the social networking site to do more to stop abuse.
The MP for Liverpool Wavertree said: "At the height of the abuse, the police said I was the subject of 2,500 hate messages in the space of three days using the hashtag 'filthyjewbitch'.
"Online hate needs to be taken as seriously as offline hate - but it isn't. Twitter's response isn't good enough. It has a responsibility to do more to protect its users.”
Twitter's response isn't good enough. It has a responsibility to do more to protect its users
Although her campaign has put a block on a deluge of hate messages, trolls are still sending vile tweets with offensive references to her religion and appearance.
She added: "The site is letting me and many others down who have been the subject of lots of hate. It could start by automatically banning racist words which aren't allowed to be printed in newspapers or broadcast on TV that could never be used in a positive way - such as kike (a derogatory term for a Jewish person)."
A spokesman for Twitter told the paper the firm was "working hard" to combat abuse but blocking individual words was "generally ineffective at stopping unwanted behaviour".
