Madeleine McCann’s parents hit by ‘150 vile tweets a DAY from online trolls’
THE parents of Maddie McCann are targeted by more than 150 abusive tweets everyday - a decade on from her disappearance.
The vile comments, directed at Kate and Gerry McCann, were found to be made mostly by women, according to new research into online abuse.
Psychologist Dr John Synott, who carried out the first study of its kind, said: "Most trolling behaviour has a lifespan of a couple of days.
"This has gone on for ten years, and you cannot see it ever ending. That is the legacy of the McCann case.
"In the physical world there are repercussions. You couldn't get away with saying these things in the street. But in the virtual world there are no consequences."
He estimated there were between 100 and 150 abusive comments directed on Twitter, Facebook and online McCann message boards everyday.
Much of the abuse targets the parents as being responsible over the little girl's disappearance.
Madeleine McCann vanished on May 3, 2007, when her family, from Leicestershire, were holidaying in the Algarve.
Parents Gerry and Kate had left their three children – including toddler twins Sean and Amelie – sleeping in their apartment while they dined at a nearby tapas bar.
When Kate returned to check on the kids about 10pm that evening she discovered that Maddie was not in her bed and was missing.
Dr Synott called for action to be taken against the abuse, including taking away pseudonyms that allowed people to make abusive comments anonymously.
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Co-author to the report, Dr John Synott said: "It is encouraging to see ministers have called the major social media platforms to Whitehall to demand they do more to protect people online from cyber bullying and trolling or face sanctions.
"This is a step in the right direction by making these platforms responsible for negative behaviour that they unfortunately enable."
The study, published in Computers in Human Behaviour, has been featured in an editorial headed 'The dark side of social media' for the prestigious journal, Nature.
In one sample of 400 McCann-related tweets obtained from 37 user accounts and containing a total of 7,600 words it found examples of abusive, often illiterate language used by trolls.
The theme of motherhood implied a strong female presence in the anti-McCann group, whereas earlier research has suggested that trolls are mostly male, because of frequent misogynistic sentiments.
Even researchers who attempted to speak to trolls online were targeted by bad language.
The research will now be expanded to examine people supporting the McCann parents.
Her parents Gerry and Kate McCann recently lost their latest court appeal to silence former cop Goncalo Amaral, who claims they covered up their daughter’s death in his book.
They have launched a challenge against the judges who sided with Amaral and also stated Madeleine’s parents have not been cleared of suspicion.
In a nine-page legal complaint seeking to invalidate the ruling they accuse the Portuguese judges of “contradictions” and acting “frivolously”.
The heartbroken couple may also face a fresh legal battle as they may sue over a “lunatic conspiracy theory” TV documentary which has emerged, based on Amaral’s shocking accusations.
As the tenth anniversary of Madeline’s disappearance approaches, the McCanns have slammed claims that they plan to make money from their daughter’s disappearance.
Kate and Gerry also hit out at the “insensitive” way Madeleine was drawn into hit BBC drama The Moorside – based on the fake kidnap of Shannon Matthews.
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