Lieutenant opens up about online abuse she experienced

A part of the UK’s ‘Call it out’ campaign, the West Yorkshire Deputy Lieutenant, Nicky Chance-Thompson, shared her experience as a victim and survivor of online abuse. ‘During and after the events that happened I lost some of my mojo and joie de vivre’. She warned against high volume of abuse on social media. Due to the lack of laws around online abuse, especially around the so-called ‘fake profiles’, there are no legal consequences, nor recourse for the victims. Women with high profile positions are targeted with the spread of fake news about them, for being successful at their job. ‘I’ve lost count of the times the online platforms have stated that a person reported for a vile remark hasn’t violated any rules, even though their words have violated me or others’. Because she did not have physical, emotional, or legal remedies available to her, Chance-Thompson researched and found out about many other disturbing cases of online abuse of women, which in some cases had a fatal outcome. Freedom of speech does not entitle abuse, online or offline.