Hate: it was naked on Priti Patel’s face during her Tory conference speech, yet she talks about closing anonymous social media accounts to end it. She speaks with a forked tongue.
The hypocrisy is bald and blatant:
The government is considering removing anonymity from social media accounts, said a source who asked not to be named
— David__Osland (@David__Osland) October 18, 2021
In fact, we know who wants to remove social media anonymity – it’s Priti Patel. But government sources of stories to news media would keep their anonymity, meaning huge opportunities to mislead the public will still be available to them. Remember the false claim that three Labour MPs were going to defect to the Conservatives during conference season?
Patel made her claim during an interview on Sky News, in response to the stabbing of David Amess.
She said there had been a “coarsening” of the public debate (without acknowledging the role that recent Tory governments have played in it) and added:
We can’t carry on like this. I spend too much time with communities who have been under attack, basically who have had all sorts of postings online and it is a struggle to get those posts taken down.
We want to make some big changes on that.
And she said:
This is about wider public discourse and I would also go as far to say social media, anonymity on social media, where we’re members of parliament are subjects of some of the most cruel comments attacks.
And they are relentless, many of them are relentless.
My colleagues go through just some of the most appalling attacks I’ve seen online and I have as well.
Off the top of my head, This Writer doesn’t recall Patel ever showing any concern about the enormous volume of hate sent to Diane Abbott on a regular basis. But then, Ms Abbott is a black female Labour MP and not a white male Tory knight – so it seems other rules apply.
And there’s an elephant in this room. Why is Patel suggesting a crackdown on anonymous social media accounts when the suspect in the Amess murder, Ali Harbi Ali, has not used one?
The suspect in the David Amiss murder used his own name on his social media accounts.
So why is Priti Patel using the killing as an excuse to attack online anonymity?
She's so depraved that she'll piggyback her pre-existing agenda onto the death of one of her own colleagues!
— Another Angry Voice (@Angry_Voice) October 17, 2021
What has social media anonymity got to do with the murder of an MP?
Nothing.
But there is literally no tragedy the Tories won’t use to gain further control or wealth for themselves.
— Kerry-Anne Mendoza 🏳️🌈 (@TheMendozaWoman) October 17, 2021
According to a YouGov poll, a majority of people think there should be curbs on anonymity…
Popular but wrong. This is a tool for oppression and won’t do *anything* to reduce abuse. https://t.co/AUeJ2um7Ph
— Prof Paul Bernal (@PaulbernalUK) October 18, 2021
… and This Writer is not a fan of unmonitored anonymity, having been a victim of online hate myself.
But I would not seek to ban online anonymity. I would suggest that those who wanted to be anonymous registered for it, and if social media platforms received verifiable complaints about their activities – in other words, if they were caught abusing others, that privilege may be removed.
The reason for this should be clear to everybody but if it isn’t, read the following:
Removing social media anonymity concerns me. I have to use a pseudonym, hide my location, because men have threatened to rape me, chop me up and bury me in the woods. The police do nothing until they act on a threat.
My crime?
Being a woman online and talking about politics.
— Super Tanskiii (@supertanskiii) October 18, 2021
We must hold on to our freedom to criticise the government, they’ll use this as another way to avoid scrutiny and use it to their advantage.
They have control of the mainstream media, are taking away our right to protest, social media is one of the few freedoms we have left.
— Super Tanskiii (@supertanskiii) October 18, 2021
And of course removing online anonymity will only increase the imbalance between the privileged and the rest of us:
The truth of the matter is this: many of us here know that it makes no difference if someone is anonymous or not; the bile that can come from those with blue ticks can be just as bad as it is from others.
— James Foster (@JamesEFoster) October 17, 2021
Again: I have certainly been a victim of online abuse organised by people on Twitter with blue ticks next to their name. I am not aware of any instance when that organisation has acted on complaints against these “celebrities”.
So it seems that, rather than acting to end online abuse, Ms Patel is trying to increase the ability of the rich and privileged to cause such abuse, while ending any chance for ordinary people to defend themselves.
And let’s not forget that this is coming from the minister who wants to “turn back the boats” of refugees coming to the UK, exposing children to the possibility of drowning at sea, while granting her employees who cause such deaths immunity from prosecution:
Priti Patel: “We come into public life to be a force for good”
Question – is drowning children in the sea a force for good?#marr
— Political Motivation (🏡) (@Margin4Error) October 17, 2021
Hate – whether online or in real life – has always been a tool of the Tories and Patel’s words stand on their heads. She may say she wants to shut it down but in fact it seems clear that she wants to increase it.
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