Online harassment of scholars threatens academic freedom

Two academics who were bombarded with death and rape threats after they were selected by Twitter to research communication on the platform have warned that such incidents will make scholars afraid to speak to the public, writes David Matthews for Times Higher Education.

Dr Rebekah Tromble, assistant professor of political communication at Leiden University in the Netherlands, and Dr Patricia Rossini, a postdoctoral researcher at Syracuse University in New York state, said that they had feared for their safety during an onslaught of tens of thousands of hostile tweets, comments and emails last July. Police were forced to step up patrols around Tromble’s house. Only now do the pair feel comfortable talking about their ordeal, Tromble told Times Higher Education.

The online storm broke just hours after the research into civility and tolerance on Twitter was announced, as critics dug up tweets attacking United States President Donald Trump made by Tromble, Rossini and other members of the team. Much of the US conservative online world seized on these Trump-critical tweets as evidence that the project was likely to lead to Twitter censoring conservatives. The research even provoked criticism from Ronna McDaniel, the chair of the Republican National Committee.
Full report on the Times Higher Education site