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Online abuse and death threats awful, says MP Anna McMorrin

BBC Anna McMorrinBBC
Anna McMorrin: "The most serious ones, particularly if they're death threats, I do report them to the police"

"I have to be very security conscious now and that is a worry," says Cardiff North Labour MP Anna McMorrin.

More than 3,000 offensive tweets are sent to UK Members of Parliament every day, a BBC investigation into the extent of online abuse has found.

Ms McMorrin told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that comments could be "really aggressive, veering on sexually abusive, sometimes death threats".

Twitter was unavailable for comment.

Analysis of three million tweets aimed at politicians over a six-week period found more than 130,000, about one in 20, could be classed as toxic.

"It's pretty awful... the most serious ones, particularly if they're death threats, I do report them to the police," said Ms McMorrin.

"I'm in touch with the police and they're in touch with me about my movements."

UK Parliament MP Virginia CrosbieUK Parliament
Ynys Môn Conservative MP Virginia Crosbie received a death threat last year

Ynys Môn Conservative MP Virginia Crosbie spoke about a death threat she received to her constituency office in Holyhead, Anglesey, last year.

Former Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood also highlighted "vile" online abuse she received on social media in 2016.

And, last year, Kirsty Williams, the ex-Liberal Democrat politician and Welsh education minister, said it abuse was getting "worse and worse".

The BBC investigation found female MPs were more likely to be called "thick" and "ignorant" and be subject to sexualised language while their male counterparts were more likely to be called "liars".

BBC | Getty Images Leanne Wood and Kirsty WilliamsBBC | Getty Images
Former Welsh politicians Leanne Wood and Kirsty Williams have previously spoken about online abuse

"It shouldn't be that a woman in politics should have to deal with this," said Ms McMorrin.

"You only need one lone wolf to do something crazy.

"I've got to think about my family because this job does impact that, but you can't let that consume you."

The BBC's Shared Data Unit used Perspective, a tool that uses artificial intelligence to spot toxic comments online.

Developed by Jigsaw, a research unit within Google, it defines a toxic comment as one which is "rude, disrespectful or unreasonable" and "likely to make someone leave a conversation".

The team analysed all tweets mentioning MPs from March to mid-April.

The BBC had contacted Twitter for a response, but the firm was unable to reply.

Twitter has previously said it is committed to combatting abuse as outlined in its Hateful Conduct Policy.