Twitter ‘accepts’ targeted harassment of officials, Tusla chief says

Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has criticised social media companies, particularly Twitter, for allowing their platforms to be used for the harassment of officials.

The agency has become a target for conspiracy theorists, anti-vaccination campaigners and far-right activists in recent months who have falsely accused it of being involved in the abuse of children.

Recently these groups having been holding protests outside the homes of public officials including Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and chief medical officer Tony Holohan.

Protesters use the Twitter hashtag #BringItToTheirDoors to organise the demonstrations. Tusla said the response of Twitter suggested they stood over “targeted harassment”.

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One of those previously targeted in this way was Tusla chief executive Bernard Gloster, who said the agency had engaged with Twitter on the issue but was left disappointed with the response.

“I have no difficulty with lawful protest in public places, complaint, or people expressing their opinion on social media platforms,” he said in a statement.

“However, based on the responses received recently by Twitter to our legitimate concerns raised, it can only be interpreted that the platform accepts and stands over what we consider to be targeted harassment in the form of the hashtag #BringItToTheirDoors and the resultant carrying out of these threats.

“In the context of our own work this is of particular concern as our staff are involved in child protection and welfare work – some of the most sensitive and important work in the State.”

‘Disappointing responses’

Tusla said it has expressed concern about online harassment of staff on several previous occasions and has recently complained to social media companies about “defamatory tweets and online movements (via hashtags), particularly a concerning trend recently of threats to come to the private homes of public officials”.

“The disappointing responses provided by Twitter to repeated concerns regarding the hashtag #BringItToTheirDoors is worrying.”

It said there was a clear need to ensure “the safety of people and their families in their private homes” and “for accountability for this type of threatening behaviour”.

“Social media platforms have a responsibility to remove or halt posts and movements of this nature where clearly the target is no longer the workplace or role of an individual but their private home and family.”

In a statement, a Twitter spokesman said the company recognised that “there’s more to be done” on tackling abusive content.

“Right now, 65 per cent of the abusive content we action is surfaced proactively for human review, instead of relying on reports from people using Twitter. We also acknowledge and want to reiterate our commitment to ensuring that Twitter doesn’t become a forum that facilitates abuse and we continue to examine our own policy approaches and ways we can enforce our rules at speed and scale. We are committed to work with industry partners and civil society to build a safer internet.”