McCanns subjected to abusive tweets

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccanns-parents-subjected-150-9960117




Madeleine McCann's parents subjected to 150 abusive tweets a DAY from online trolls

Psychologist Dr John Synott has carried out the first study of its kind on trolls and found their “whole existence relies on social media accounts”

ByTom Pettifor,
18:35, 3 MAR 2017

Up to 150 abusive tweets about Maddie McCann’s parents are posted by online trolls every day, researchers have estimated.

Psychologist Dr John Synott has carried out the first study of its kind on trolls and found their “whole existence relies on social media accounts”.




He is calling for to end the right to anonymously troll strangers on Twitter.

Dr Synott said: “Most trolling behaviour has a lifespan of a couple of days. This has gone on for ten years, and you cannot see it ever ending. That is the legacy of the McCann case.

“In the physical world there are repercussions. You couldn’t get away with saying these things in the street. But in the virtual world there are no consequences.”
Three-year-old Maddie disappeared from the family’s holiday apartment in Portugal in 2007. Twitter trolls blame parents’ Kate and Gerry and discuss the case constantly.

Dr Synott has been interested in the McCann trolling ever since he first saw it at work in about 2012.

He said: “It was somewhat organised, it was repetitive, but the volume of information was the real surprising thing.”

The University of Huddersfield researchers want pseudonyms which enable cyber trolling to be prevented from being used on Twitter.

Dr Synott said: “It is encouraging to see ministers have called the major social media platforms to Whitehall to demand they do more to protect people online from cyber bullying and trolling or face sanctions.

His study published in Computers in Human Behaviour has been featured in an editorial headed ‘The dark side of social media’ for the prestigious journal, Nature.

It reinforces newly-revealed UK Government plans to curb cyber abuse.

Dr Synott said: “We found there were between 100 and 150 abusive comments on Twitter, Facebook and McCann messageboards every day.”

Dr Synott is now planning to extend the research by analysing the pro McCann camp.

Disclosure - I'm not 'on' Twitter but I do occasionally read tweets online under the heading of "McCann". I have to wonder if the eminent psychologist has read the official files of the investigation into the "disappearance" of Madeleine McCann. It seems to me from what I have read of these tweets, intelligent people having read the volume of information available in the official files, are asking pertinent questions and commenting accordingly - not directly to the McCanns - but to and from each other. Yes, some comments are abusive towards the McCanns but not to the degree that Brenda Leyland was viciously attacked and hounded by Martin Brunt. She did have previous mental health issues but it was the way Sky News outed her that pushed her over the edge. I suggest he investigate the circumstances regarding the compilation of the dossier on trolls and Gerry McCann's comment that these people should be punished before he vilifies intelligent people who question this whole scam.

The comments on the Sun coverage of this topic are worth reading.

Pat Brown stands up for people who doubt the McCanns' abduction claim in The Daily Profiler www.patbrownprofiling.blogspot.com
She addresses her remarks to Dr. Synott and the U.K. media.