Want to tell Margaret Hodge, DWP Minister, what you think of her?

[killer b]

People must get some satisfaction out of it, else it wouldn’t be such a popular passtime.

A momentary hit of endorphins, that's about it.

 

[brogdale]

Folk should only engage if they have positive things to say about their MP/councillor?

 

[bimble]

they have a duty of care for their posters

Thats sounds nice but i don't think its true. The twitter rules (that decide whether they'll take any action, are set out here if you're interested.
Their business model basically depends on people shouting at eachother, so its in their interests to keep things pretty narrow (no credible violent threats, a tricky definition of 'targetted harassment', etc).

 

[killer b]

to, not about. and no, of course not. but look at Margaret Hodge's mentions this morning and tell me what the upside of that is. Who's that good for?

 

[brogdale]

to, not about. and no, of course not. but look at Margaret Hodge's mentions this morning and tell me what the upside of that is. Who's that good for?

If their social media accounts did not offer them more advantages than downsides, those that presume to govern us would abandon the platforms. Their choice to engage.

 

[killer b]

If their social media accounts did not offer them more advantages than downsides, those that presume to govern us would abandon the platforms. Their choice to engage.

what's the upside to the people shouting at her?

 

[bimble]

If their social media accounts did not offer them more advantages than downsides, those that presume to govern us would abandon the platforms. Their choice to engage.

This is such a sad place to end up, if you can't hack thousands of people piling into you then fuck off & be silent.
I think that is exactly how things work a lot of the time - doesn't apply to just politicians or journalists or whatever but to everyone. It's not a great solution really if you think about it.

 

[two sheds]

Thats sounds nice but i don't think its true. The twitter rules (that decide whether they'll take any action: are set out here if you're interested.
Their business model basically depends on people shouting at eachother, so its in their interests to keep things pretty narrow (no credible violent threats, a tricky definition of 'targetted harassment', etc).

No, twitter won't do it voluntarily, that's why I say it has to be done by law.

Duty of care is a legal term that's been defined in courts. If judges are handed a stream of hundreds of abusive messages to examine they'll be able to decide whether twitter has followed up on its duty of care. At the moment as I understand it there's a ruling that they aren't responsible for the content of messages that are posted.

A change in that law, a couple of high profile rulings and fines and twitter will either comply or continue getting larger and larger fines, with possible criminal action for the executives. If it goes to a court case we'll see how many abusive messages each of the politicians get. And I do think it's relevant how many the different politicians (and others) get and how many of those are abusive, but that needs to be decided by a judge.

 

[bimble]

its never going to happen but ok.

 

[two sheds]

Not sure how that would affect urban though

 

[rummo]

Margaret Hodge’s foul hypocrisy just beggars belief

It’s impossible to know just how many people will have voted by the time the polls close next Thursday.

www.express.co.uk

It occurs to me that some of the criticism of Hodge in this article could be regarded as anti Semitic, echoing as it does a number of anti Semitic tropes.

 

[frogwoman]

I'm sure it does.

 

[brogdale]

what's the upside to the people shouting at her?

For whom?

Difficult to speculate what such a variety of punters might get from engaging with her social media in that way, but we can assume that the opportunities for self-promotion, ideological broadcast and politicking that social media affords the MP outweigh the downside of her office having to triage the abuse.

 

[brogdale]

This is such a sad place to end up, if you can't hack thousands of people piling into you then fuck off & be silent.
I think that is exactly how things work a lot of the time - doesn't apply to just politicians or journalists or whatever but to everyone. It's not a great solution really if you think about it.

Paid elected representatives have enough opportunities to speak, and broadcast without having to engage on social media; it's their choice to do so.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I've just had a quick look at Hodge's twitter feed. Her recent tweets seem to be a roughly equal mix of MP constituency news/information and attacks on Corbyn. On a wider point, I think a lot of MPs haven't properly thought through the question as to why they post on social media.

 

[killer b]

this is a pretty stunted argument you're presenting here brogdale - everyone chooses to do it so just suck it up? Stick with it or opt out, no point in complaining about bad things. If you want the advantages social media offers, you just have to take the antisemitic abuse and rape threats, sorry!

 

[killer b]

FWIW I think a dialogue with elected representatives could and should be enabled by social media, but this just isn't it - the current situation is a huge barrier to that dialogue being anything worthwhile for anybody involved in it.

 

[frogwoman]

This is definitely why a lot of women and minorities don't feel comfortable posting on social media if they're in public positions. It's not even just politicians and celebrities- the likes of Devi Sridhar etc have faced similar abuse

 

[eoin_k]

Maybe you should have a dig through her mentions on twitter if it's really important to you that she's got the numbers right. it's not much fun.

I'm not doubting that she's been the target of plenty of antisemitic and mysogynistic abuse that should be called out, whatever we make of her as an individual. But those figures are still meaningless.

 

[frogwoman]

Or even if they're not in public positions tbh.

 

[frogwoman]

It's not really that meaningless if you are on the receiving end tbh. I'm not much of a fan of Hodge btw.

 

[brogdale]

this is a pretty stunted argument you're presenting here brogdale - everyone chooses to do it so just suck it up? Stick with it or opt out, no point in complaining about bad things. If you want the advantages social media offers, you just have to take the antisemitic abuse and rape threats, sorry!

Hodge, like anyone else, has every right to complain about bad things, and where illegal threats or incitement are made, every right to request that the platform or appropriate authorities take action.
But, along with other MPs, the call to remove everyone's right to anonymity goes well beyond complaining.

 

[Jeff Robinson]

But so what? Does it change anything if the numbers are different?

It's tiresome making these comparisons all the time, but as she's complaining about more or less the exact same thing, did anyone here claim Diane Abbott was exaggerating? If not, what's the difference - you can be sure that people everywhere will have been trying to minimise and dismiss her complaint in a similar way - ah Diane, notoriously bad with numbers etc. Why not here?

The response of some urbanites to the racism and misogyny Diane Abbott faced was pretty fucking trash tbh.

 

[frogwoman]

I've been away from the boards for some time and I'm sure it was, but that kinda supports the point that is being made doesn't it.

 

[killer b]

The response of some urbanites to the racism and misogyny Diane Abbott faced was pretty fucking trash tbh.

anyone here other than cunts, I meant.

 

[Sasaferrato]

Paid elected representatives have enough opportunities to speak, and broadcast without having to engage on social media; it's their choice to do so.

I must agree with this.

 

[killer b]

wow, it's like magic. You just have to think about them and they appear.

 

[two sheds]

The antisemitic, racist and sexist abuse does need to be reigned in, though, along with the downright lies of the anti-vax and qanon stuff.

 

[brogdale]

I must agree with this.

I may need to reflect carefully.

 

[splonkydoo]

Hodge is a c*nt