Anika Wells torches ‘cesspit’ social media for growing online abuse

Communications Minister Anika Wells blasts “cesspit” social media for “threatening rhetoric” in the wake of the horrific attack on Independent MP Helen Haines. “Social media promised to create a village square; instead, it has become a cesspit,” Ms Wells said during Question Time on Tuesday. “When dehumanising language online becomes normal, it lowers the barrier to harm in the real world. “Over the past year the Australian Federal Police has recorded growing volumes of online abuse, of threatening rhetoric and intimidation.”