Jess Phillips says leaving is a very real possibility after receiving more than 600 tweets about raping her in one night

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A Labour MP has said she may leave Twitter after trolls sent her more than 600 messages in one night about raping her.

Jess Phillips spoke out after a wave of abuse was launched against her, apparently after she replied to one person who said: “I wouldn’t even rape you.”

The MP for Birmingham Yardley tweeted on Monday:

Jess Phillips MP (@jessphillips) To see the attack of a pack on here check out my mentions 600 odd notifications talking about my rape in one night. I think twitter is dead

She had previously been subjected to rape threats online after she laughed at the Conservative MP Philip Davies when he called for a discussion in parliament to coincide with International Men’s Day last October.

Speaking about the most recent abuse, Phillips told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme: “I could never block them. You would need someone employed full time to block the amount of people who have been in touch with me over the weekend.

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“It’s not a solution just to block and ignore them in my case. The only solution in stopping me seeing it is if I stop going on Twitter which is a very real possibility.”

She added that those orchestrating the abuse should face civil or criminal proceedings.

She said: “Until Twitter makes this sort of thing stop happening and stops accepting that this sort of dogpiling and mass bullying can happen, their business model is totally flawed. People who don’t like this feral side of the internet are just going to walk away.”

Twitter said it did not comment on individual cases for privacy and security reasons.

Its head of trust and safety, Kira O’Connor, said: “Hateful conduct has no place on the Twitter platform and is a violation of our terms of service. In addition to our policies and user controls, such as block, mute and our new multiple tweet reporting functionality, we work with civil society leaders and academic experts to understand the challenge that exists.”