Australian TV personality in hospital after abuse by Twitter trolls
An Australian TV presenter has been admitted to hospital after she was repeatedly abused on Twitter.
Charlotte Dawson, who campaigns against cyber bullying, was targeted after naming and shaming a user who had told her to hang herself, the Telegraph in Australia reported.
The 46-year-old was subjected to hours of harassment including comments telling her "go kill yourself," "put your face into a toaster," "no one loves you, "you are a racist," "please do the planet a favour and go hang yourself," and "it's a very good thing that you cannot breed".
Ms Dawson had earlier that night told an Australian radio talk show host about how she became the centre of a vicious online hate campaign:
If you publish on a public forum and you become identifiable then you become liable for those comments.
When it comes to suicide and taunting people, and encouraging people to commit suicide. I find that's crossing a line and that's why I took the action that I took.
I want the trolls to know that you can't hide.
The last messages posted by Dawson on her Twitter account read:
Hope this ends the misery ..
From @MsCharlotteD on Twitter:You win x
From @MsCharlotteD on Twitter:She was reportedly admitted to St Vincent's Hopital in Sydney after the ambulance service responded to a call to help a woman in the early hours.
A spokesperson for the hospital told the Telegraph that the Australia's Next Top Model judge was expected to make a full recovery but she had asked that her privacy be respected.
- If you have had problems with online bullying and would like to talk to someone, BullyingUK offers free advice online, over e-mail and on the phone.