British police said on Tuesday they were investigating violent and sexually explicit Twitter postings directed at a lawmaker in a growing row over threats to women on the social network. Stella Creasy, an MP with the opposition Labour party, faced a stream of abuse after supporting a feminist activist who was targeted for campaigning for an image of novelist Jane Austen to appear on bank notes.
Creasy’s complaint to police came as another lawmaker said she too was receiving a barrage of offensive messages, and after a 21-year-old man was arrested and bailed over rape threats to feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez. ‘This isn’t about Twitter, this is about hatred of women and hatred of women who speak up,’ Creasy told BBC radio on Monday.
Creasy’s complaint to police came as another lawmaker said she too was receiving a barrage of offensive messages, and after a 21-year-old man was arrested and bailed over rape threats to feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez. ‘This isn’t about Twitter, this is about hatred of women and hatred of women who speak up,’ Creasy told BBC radio on Monday.