General election 2019: Conservatives 'see highest rise in Twitter abuse' – BBC News, BBC News
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The abuse of candidates on Twitter has escalated during the election campaign, research suggests, with Conservatives seeing the biggest rise.
Abuse spiked after TV debates, a study by the University of Sheffield found – with abuse of Tories rising and Labor and Lib Dem levels remaining stable.
Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn received most, followed by Tory leader Boris Johnson.
Others have reported being threatened with sledgehammers and targeted by abusive graffiti and vandalism.
Conservative candidate Andrea Jenkyns told the BBC some of the abuse she received had been “sexually violent “, while the SNP’s Lisa Cameron said social media trolls had threatened to behead her.
Researchers looked at the abusive replies candidates received on Twitter during the first four weeks of the general election campaign.
They cross-referenced a database of slurs and offensi ve words with the contents of responses to tweets sent by candidates standing on 20 December.
While the Labor and Conservative leaders received the most abuse, the study found that Health Secretary Matt Hancock, cabinet minister Michael Gove and Labor candidate David Lammy received the next highest levels.
Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg, Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson, and Labour’s Diane Abbott also received substantial levels of abuse.
Of the top 15 recipients of abuse between 3 November and 4 December, the study found that 11 were Conservative, seven were Labor and two were Lib Dem.
And while candidates of all parties received abusive tweet replies, Conservative candidates saw a rising level of abuse towards them as the campaign got under way – something that was not echoed in responses to either labor or Lib Dem candidates, researchers said.
Professor Kalina Bontcheva, who leads the research team behind the study, said the overall rise in abuse suggested “extreme voter polarisation”, with people using a variety of insults to attack the political orientation or opinion of candidates.
“This is combined with an even more disturbing rise in vitriolic personal abuse and threats – often targeting the candidates due to their race, gender, country of birth, or religion, “she said.
Michael Gove saw a spike in abuse leveled at him around the time of Channel 4’s election debate on climate change, the study found.
He had offered to take the place of Mr Johnson in the debate, but the broadcaster refused, saying the invitation was for leaders only. Instead, the program “empty chaired” Mr Johnson.
More generally, Brexit, immigration and policing all drew fire on Twitter for the Conservatives, while Labor was attacked for tweets on immigration, Brexit, democracy and business and enterprise, according to the study.
The Lib Dems drew disproportionate amounts of abuse for posts on Brexit, democracy, community and society, it said.
Image copyrightGetty Images, House of CommonsImage caption Candidates Andrea Jenkyns, Sarah Wollaston and Luke Pollard have all been victims of abuse
Andrea Jenkyns, Conservative candidate for Morley and Outwood, has noticed the type and level of online abuse directed at her get worse. She said abuse had been directed at her from people with fake profiles.
One of her campaign team was recently chased down the street by a man with a sledgehammer. “It can be pretty horrific, some of it, actually,” she told the BBC.
“I’m a blunt northern lass who believes in fighting, but I think the sad thing is my threshold – my tolerance levels – has widened. I probably accept a lot more now than, ordinarily, I would have done. “
The SNP’s Lisa Cameron added: “I’ve already had people online, particularly over the Halloween period, calling me a witch and a monster and, you know, making fun and mocking me, mocking my parents , mocking me in general. “
” Then I received death threats online from individuals saying they were coming to behead me, sending pictures of beheaded corpses , “she added.
Although there was no place for such abuse, he said, he called on politicians on all sides to take responsibility for the tone of the current debate.
“In the heated, divisive, contested atmosphere of a general election, you know people respond to the hate they see and the division they see from politicians – and that contributes to this very toxic atmosphere, “he said.
Police told the BBC they had received almostreports relating to election candidate security between 15 November and 4 December. However, about half of the reports did not constitute a crime.
“Police will investigate all reports of abuse and will seek to prosecute those who act outside the law,” he added.
Misleading social media ads
It comes as separate research revealedthe extent of misleading advertising
on social media by political parties and campaign groups at this election.
Non-profit organization First Draft looked at every paid-for Facebook ad from the three main UK-wide parties run over the first four days of December.
For the Conservatives, the group said (%) 5 976 of the party’s most widely promoted ads either featured claims that had been flagged by independent fact-checking organizations, including BBC Reality Check, as not correct or not entirely correct.
For the Lib Dems, it said hundreds of potentially misleading ads had featured identical unlabeled graphs, with no indication of the source data, to claim it was the only party that could beat either Labor, the Conservatives, or the SNP “in seats like yours”
For Labor, it said it could not find any misleading claims in ads run over the period. However, it noted that the party’s supporters were more likely to share unpaid-for electioneering posts than those of its rivals.
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