Jess Phillips has declared that Twitter is "dead", after she was subjected to around 5000 notifications of people discussing whether or not they would sexually assault her. Photo / Getty Images
Jess Phillips has declared that Twitter is "dead", after she was subjected to around 5000 notifications of people discussing whether or not they would sexually assault her. Photo / Getty Images
A UK MP has revealed she received more than 600 rape threats in one night, after launching a campaign against sexist online bullying.
Jess Phillips, the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, declared that Twitter was "dead", after she was subjected to around 5000 Twitter notifications of people discussing whether ornot they would sexually assault her.
Ms Phillips revealed earlier this year that she had been sexually assaulted as a nineteen year old.
To see the attack of a pack on here check out my mentions 600 odd notifications talking about my rape in one night. I think twitter is dead
The MP, who has played a leading role in launching the 'Reclaim the Internet' campaign, said that the "ringleaders" of the abuse should face either civil or criminal action.
Speaking about the recent abuse, the Labour MP told BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme: "I could never block them - you would need someone employed full time to block the amount of people who have been in touch with me over the weekend.
"It's not a solution just to block and ignore them in my case. The only solution in stopping me seeing it is if I stop going on Twitter which is a very real possibility."
Ms Phillips added: "Until Twitter makes this sort of thing stop happening and stops accepting that this sort of dogpiling and mass bullying can happen, their business model is totally flawed. People who don't like this feral side of the internet are just going to walk away."
She tweeted: "To see the attack of a pack on here check out my mentions 600 odd notifications talking about my rape in one night.
Twitter said it did not comment on individual cases for privacy and security reasons.
Kira O'Connor, Head of Trust & Safety Outreach, said: "Hateful conduct has no place on the Twitter platform and is a violation of our terms of service.
"In addition to our policies and user controls, such as block, mute and our new multiple tweet reporting functionality, we work with civil society leaders and academic experts to understand the challenge that exists."
