Stan Collymore has accused Twitter of not doing enough to combat illegal abuse on the network, during a week when he and the former gymnast Beth Tweddle have both been subjected to derogatory comments on the site.
Collymore has been the victim of a series of abusive tweets since voicing his opinion last weekend that the Liverpool forward Luis Suárez had dived when winning a penalty against Aston Villa in the Premier League.
Tweddle, meanwhile, was targeted by internet trolls on Tuesday during a question-and-answer session hosted by Sky Sports, intended to promote the role of women in sport and discuss matters related to the three-time Olympian's career as a gymnast.
Collymore appeared across various national media platforms on Wednesday to voice his frustration, claiming that police were also disappointed that Twitter had not done more to stop abuse on its site.
The police confirmed on Tuesday night that they were investigating a series of messages directed at the former England international.
Collymore, 43, wrote: 'In the last 24 hours I've been threatened with murder several times, demeaned on my race, and many of these accounts are still active. Why?
'I accuse Twitter directly of not doing enough to combat racist/homophobic/sexist hate messages, all of which are illegal in the UK.
'Several police forces have been fantastic. Twitter haven't. Dismayed.'
On Tuesday night Sky Sports condemned the abuse of Tweddle during their Q&A session, describing some messages as 'unacceptable and offensive'.
On Wednesday Tweddle, who won bronze at London 2012 on the uneven bars, took to Twitter to respond. She wrote: 'Thanks for all your messages. Yesterday was unfortunate but I've been heartened to see the reaction from responsible Twitter users.
'A few people did something wrong, were called out on it and apologised. This demonstrated that abuse isn't tolerated.
'I hope everyone continues to react the same way by reporting abuse no matter who is on the receiving end.'
West Midlands police confirmed that Staffordshire police were investigating 'alleged abusive tweets to Stan Collymore' and urged people to block and report abuse at www.report-it.org.uk.
Collymore told Sky News: 'I believe that the number of active [Twitter] users is monetised, so they would much rather have a billion active users who can say whatever the hell they like, rather than spend money on algorithms, scripts, age verification, tying an account to a phone number, or a credit card, which would of course decrease the numbers.
'I've no problem with honestly-held opinions. If people think I'm an idiot, they're more than welcome to say. They're also more than welcome, within the laws of the United Kingdom, to bring up my past.
'That is genuine use of freedom of speech. But freedom of speech means that if anyone walks past me now and calls me some of the things, or makes some of the threats that have been made to me on Twitter, they would be arrested.'
Tidak ada komentar :
Posting Komentar