TV presenter exposes troll Twitter account that was taunting her with ‘sickening’ insults for months: ‘No one deserves to be treated like this’
- A Twitter troll was called out by horse racing analyst Bella Anderson this week
- She said account had been posting insults about her for more than two months
- Supporters in and out of racing industry reported account and it was suspended
Horse racing presenter Bella Anderson has exposed a cowardly Twitter user who used an anonymous account to hurl ‘sickening’ insults at her over several weeks.
The Melbourne-based mounting yard analyst for Racing.com took to Twitter on Tuesday morning to call out the parody account called ‘BigBellasBest’ after realising it had been using her picture to aggressively harass Ms Anderson over her racing tips and physical appearance.
‘I can’t quite describe how I felt when I found this account and even more so that industry participants are following it,’ Ms Anderson said.
‘This is disgusting, sickening and extremely upsetting. It is bullying and harassment. Please report this account, no-one deserves to be treated like this,’ she said of the tweets.
Horse racing analyst Bella Anderson (pictured) said she was deeply upset by a parody account filled with persona insults directed at her
The account was suspended when multiple people complained after Ms Anderson’s post
Ms Anderson received a wave of support from those both in and out of the horse racing community.
‘Bella, you are amazing with your presenting and pick of the yard. It’s awful how these trolls behave,’ one racing fan wrote.
‘That is disgraceful. I’m so sorry that you have had to deal with all of that. Good on you for calling them out… Unbelievable,’ horseracing journalist Andrew Hawkins wrote.
‘Keep doing what you do Bella, always enjoy listening to your insights and appreciate you always waving or stopping for a chat at the races. Online bullying and trolling is horrific, no one should be subjected to it at all,’ horse racing podcaster Ben Carbonaro added.
Multiple users reported the account following Ms Anderson’s tweet and Twitter banned it within three hours.
But Ms Anderson later posted a follow-up saying there were more accounts that were posting just as offensive messages.
Many of those in the racing industry rushed to support Ms Anderson and told her to ‘keep up the good work’
Some aspects of social media were labelled a ‘coward’s palace’ by former Prime Minister Scott Morrison last year.
He said there were places on the internet where trolls could act with impunity, threatening to forcibly regulate the sites if they didn’t do it themselves.
The country’s e-Safety Commissioner was granted additional powers earlier this year to require platforms to disclose the personal information of accounts the commissioner alleges are bullying other users.
The Sydneysider said it was her ‘dream’ to work as a commentator in the horse racing field
According to Twitter’s user policy, the platform ‘will review and take action against reports of accounts targeting an individual or group of people with abusive or threatening behaviour’.
Such actions can include blocking select tweets or ‘suspending accounts whose primary use we’ve determined is to engage in abusive behavior as defined in this policy, or who have shared violent threats’.
Twitter’s director of public policy for Asia Pacific, Kara Hinesley, argued free speech was essential for the platform and blanket banning anonymous accounts would not reduce the amount of harassment.
Speaking at a Twitter organised event in 2021, she pointed to a South Korean law from 2004 which required large websites to verify users.
‘What did in fact happen was there was a breach of 35 million South Koreans’ national identification numbers that were stolen. So this law was actually repealed in 2012,’ she said.
Twitter’s own research from the UK found 99 per cent of suspended accounts weren’t anonymous.
Elon Musk, who is currently battling to acquire Twitter for $44billion, said in April he would ‘authenticate all real humans’ on he platform but is yet to elaborate on specifics.
Tech mogul Elon Musk (pictured) is trying to buy Twitter but there likely wouldn’t be a crack down on trolling under him
Latest talks between Musk and Twitter seem to have broken down partly because the tech mogul seemed intent on exposing and shutting down inauthentic or ‘bot’ accounts.
He has, however, called himself a ‘free speech absolutist’ so as long as users are verified humans there would likely be no crackdown on trolling under him.
A US Court has given Twitter and Musk until October 28 to finalise the buyout negotiations.
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