Enough is Enough: Online trolls exposed

1 Aug

Like all politicians I expect criticism and robust debate on the issues of the day, but like other women and minority groups, the attacks I get are increasingly personal and targeted. If it 'just went with the job' then my male colleagues would get it at the same scale, and the reality is that they don't.

The political discourse has become full of personal attacks, racism and misogyny and it's really bad news for our democracy. It is designed to intimidate and to stop politicians from speaking out on issues they feel passionately about and it definitely makes people think twice about standing for election and representing their communities. We miss out on way too many good candidates, because they simply do not want to open themselves or their families up to that abuse.

So why don't we speak out more often? Why don't we say it hurts us and those around us? From personal experience it's down to three key things 1. Society expects us to ignore it and 'be strong', to turn the other cheek or just block trolls. 2. We don't want an admission of harm to be seen as a weakness and encourage others to harass us more. 3. We don't want our harassers to know the impact they have had and hate the thought of them laughing about it.

Remember 'Stick and stones will break my bones but words can never hurt me'? It's simply not true.

I also need to acknowledge that this is everywhere, not just against politicians, it's everywhere and it's awful. It's in our schools, our workplaces, our families and our relationships, on the left and on the right. I've been contacted by so many people since my story became public with lovely supportive messages, but many also sharing their own experiences both past and current.

It's clear that trying to stop the harm is not easy and the processes are opaque, both in Aotearoa with the Harmful Digital Communications Act (HDCA), but also on the various social media platforms, where there is no opportunity to report ongoing harassment, only individual posts or comments that may not reach a threshold on their own.

I've approached several MPs to ask for a review of the Act, so we can hear from those who have struggled and so we can see if it's fit for purpose in our increasingly toxic online discourse. It's not so easy to do that with social media giants, however, but it's a conversation we need to have with them.

For those keen to know more about the HDCA here's some good information from Stuff: Unmasking a troll - how to turn the tables on an online harasser | Stuff.co.nz (Press, 1 April 2022)

So - if you see it call it out, if not as a comment online (because, let's face it, who wants the response?), then as a message to the page host who can delete or hide it. Report it to the social media platform and keep reporting - even if an individual comment isn't taken down a history will be forming. Take screenshots (with the date and time visible if you can).