When Democratic Unionist MLA Deborah Erskine walked out her front door to announce that she had been co-opted to serve as MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone in October, 2021, she turned to her husband and warned him: “Please don’t look at social media comments today, whatever you do.”

Mrs. Erskine is one of a number of female MLAs who regularly receive “vile” abuse online. For more than two years, she has been targeted by trolls again and again.

A cursory scroll through replies to her posts on X (formerly Twitter) shows a wide range of messages about her appearance, her clothing, and even comparing her to animals.

She is also frequently called ‘Baby Arlene’ or just ‘Arlene’ by trolls, who link her to her friend and mentor, former First Minister Arlene Foster.

Discussing the nature of some of the online abuse, Mrs. Erskine said: “It can be quite personal. I have had people ... there have been comments on my weight.

“There have been comments about my hair, things like that, and there are even some more threatening stuff as well.”

She noted that criticism and disagreement on issues is a part of her job as a public political representative, but said that she would rather explain her position, and her party’s position, on any given matter than be the brunt of purely personal abuse.

She said: “For me, you’ve lost the argument whenever you attack somebody because of what they wear, or because of what they look like.

‘Demean and attack’

“You are not engaging in any political argument, you’re just solely there to demean and attack, and that’s not the type of politics I’m into. No politician signs up for that.

“I am all for having a debate with somebody if they don’t like my party position, or don’t like my stance on things, and I’m very content to explain to people why I stand for what I stand for, and what I believe.”

She admitted that she has “held back from tweeting” for her own benefits.

“Sometimes, you just say to you yourself, ‘Am I able to handle this today, the amount of scrutiny, the amount of abuse that I am going to get online?’

“I have learned to put my phone aside, and there are days my husband will tell me: ‘Deborah, stop looking at that stuff’, because there are days when I look at them [posts personally attacking her] and go, ‘Oh my goodness’.”

She admitted she can find herself down the rabbit hole of abuse, especially with more threatening messages: “Can I find any clue of who these people are? You have to think about your family [and their safety].”

Emphasising the public-facing part of her job, Mrs. Erskine said: “I’ve an office and staff, and people know where that is.”

Discussing what she thinks is the core problem, Mrs. Erskine said: “We have lost the ability within our society to disagree. Abuse is now the default position.”

Mrs. Erskine was speaking about her experience as she wished to highlight the “Wild West” of social media.

One area of concern for her as an MLA is online abuse that is faced by young people.

She said: “I’ve become hardened and desensitised to an awful lot of the stuff that is said about me on social media.

“But for a young girl who is 13, 12 or 11, sitting in their bedroom at night being bullied [online], there is no cut-off from social media.

‘No real regulation’

“There is no real regulation, in terms of that, and being safe online.

“I suppose that’s a concern for me – young girls and boys are being subjected to online bullying. Whenever I went to school, I could shut the door when I came home from school; I was away.”

The recently published ‘Growing Up Online: Children’s Online Activities, Harm and Safety in Northern Ireland’, from Stranmillis University College’s Centre for Research in Educational Underachievement, highlighted some of the experiences of young people online, both good and bad, and what they face.

Mrs. Erskine said: “The safety issues highlighted in reports such as the ‘Growing Up Online’ report cannot be ignored.

“No-one should have to receive unwanted inappropriate images, or be pressurised to send them, but this is increasingly the normality, particularly for young girls.

“This latest research backs up previous studies from 2020 which found 75 per cent of young girls had been sent unsolicited nude images.

“The Online Safety Bill has promised to introduce a new image of ‘cyberflashing’, but this sort of harmful content young people are exposed to includes the promotion of suicide and eating disorders.

“Governments have a responsibility to ensure social media is properly regulated, rather than being the Wild West for users.

“The ultimate mechanism to make publishers responsible is ensuring that platform users have verified identities, rather than being bots in a social media hate factory,” she added.

Highlighting a concern that online abuse faced by Mrs. Erskine and other female political representatives, in particular, could deter other women from entering politics, she said: “I know women look at my social media and say, ‘I don’t know how you cope with that’, or ‘I don’t know how you put up with that’.

“And they are people that should be councillors – they are people that should be public representatives, because they are so good within their community.”

Wider issues

Addressing wider issues around social media usage, she said: “I genuinely believe social media has a big role to play in some of the mental health issues that we see in our society today.

“[There’s that] constant desire to be accepted and be liked online, to show the ‘best’ parts of your life online.

“Young people are very susceptible to looking at that, and thinking that it’s normal life, and that they need to attain that – and the reality is, it’s not the real world.

“Don’t get me wrong – it is so important to be interconnecting; it’s amazing someone can be in Australia, and we can chat to them and see their life [in real time].”

However, despite the abusive and offensive messages directed to her, Mrs. Erskine shrugged off the personal attacks from trolls.

“I’ve got news for them – I am not going away. I am still going to represent the people I’ve been elected to represent,” she said.