MPs call on Twitter owner Elon Musk to do more to fix 'toxic' online culture, with Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt receiving more than 700 death and rape threats since 2010

An analysis of Twitter posts directed at MPs across a six-week period from March this year carried out in a joint investigation by the publishers of The News, the BBC and others found more than 130,000 – five per cent of the total – were deemed to be toxic, swearing at politicians and calling them ‘thick’, ‘liars’, ‘stupid’, and ‘pathetic’.

Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt found herself on the receiving end of more than 90 vitriolic Twitter posts, while fellow cabinet member and Fareham MP Suella Braverman faced a total of 419 berating messages.

Ms Mordaunt has received more than 700 threats to kill or rape her since she became an MP in 2010, with the Portsmouth politician facing a continuous barrage of sexually explicit messages.

Despite this the MP, who is also leader of the House of Commons, said she felt ‘safe’ doing her job.

She added: ‘I don’t take risks or put my staff in risky situations.

‘As a society we are grappling with tough questions about social media platforms.’

This summer saw her receive a death threat that warned she would be shot in the head and her family killed if she didn’t drop out of the Conservative Party leadership race.

Police are continuing to investigate the letter sent to the MP’s constituency office, with Ms Mordaunt praising the police’s efforts.

According to Meon Valley MP Flick Drummond, the murders of MPs Jo Cox in 2016 and David Amess last year have left many MPs terrified by the ‘relentless’ confrontational messages appearing on their screens.

A steady stream of abuse led Ms Drummond to shut down her Twitter account in April 2021.

She said: ‘I was getting endless toxic messages. It keeps you awake at night.

‘The irritating thing is that the political lobby, political journalists, all watch Twitter, so I do feel I am missing on that.’

The MP for Gosport, Caroline Dinenage, remains on the social media platform but she no longer reads messages or posts directly, after family and colleagues staged an ‘intervention’ over concerns about her mental wellbeing in 2019.

The MP had spent a Saturday morning – on the day of her daughter’s birthday - attending a police and crime event in her constituency, but she later saw a series of posts on Twitter claiming that she had never attended the event.

Ms Dinenage said: ‘I turned on social media and there were people saying, ‘she wasn’t even there’. And you think, you’ve gone out of your way and you get hate for it. I was really upset about it.

‘My husband and my parliamentary assistant staged an intervention because it was upsetting me too much.

‘It’s sad. I have lovely friends who see the messages and get upset on my behalf.’

The MPs are now waiting to see how the platform will be overhauled by its new owner, Elon Musk, who has already announced charging for verification services and closing some parody accounts.

The MP for Meon Valley said she would consider rejoining the service – given the right changes.

‘It depends on what Elon Musk does,’ Mrs Drummond said.

Ms Mordaunt said she expected discussions about Twitter’s future to highlight the harm that many MPs – and many members of the public – face when using social media.

She said: ‘That medium has both exposed and fuelled individuals and organisations who wish to cause distress and harm. I expect the debate about the future of Twitter to further expose these choices.’

Ms Dinenage, who served as minister for digital and culture from February 2020 to September 2021, said that social media companies could be doing to make their platforms less toxic, including focusing on ‘trolls’ hiding behind anonymity.

She said: ‘A lot of people who are abusive online hide behind the veil of anonymity. Ultimately they are cowards.

‘As part of the Online Safety Bill there is a suggestion you should be able to opt out from interacting with someone who doesn’t have a verified account.

‘You should still be able to create an anonymous account – there are whistle blowers, victims of domestic violence, and LGBTQ youngsters who want to interact with the online world anonymously, that’s really important.

‘But you should be able to switch off from hearing from people hiding behind anonymity.’

But progress of the Online Safety Bill has stalled, having been dropped from House of Commons business for the second time in four months, despite a recent pledge by secretary of state for digital, Michelle Donelan, that it would return this autumn.

And Labour MP for Portsmouth South Stephen Morgan – who was receiving a toxic message on Twitter every week earlier this year – said his party would look to address ‘fundamental flaws’ with the bill, which has been criticised for allowing too much self-regulation by social media platforms.

The MP said: ‘Social media companies have failed to regulate themselves, and there has been a wild west online for far too long. The need for regulation is now urgent.

‘Labour has long campaigned for stronger protections for children and the public online, to secure our democracy and ensure everyone is treated with decency and respect.

‘That’s why we are working to address fundamental flaws in the Online Safety Bill as it makes its way through Parliament.’

But Suella Braverman, the MP for Fareham and home secretary, said she didn’t ‘waste any of (her) time thinking about negative comments or messages’ on social media.

Earlier this year, one in 20 posts directed at the MP on Twitter were considered toxic or severely toxic, according to the recent study.

The Fareham MP responded: ‘Social media can be a force for good, but the sad fact is it can also be used in harmful ways. I

‘I don’t waste any of my time thinking about negative comments or messages on my social media pages.

‘Instead, I focus on using my platform to inform people about what I’ve been up to and to provide information that I think is useful.’