One of Hammersmith's parliamentary candidates has hit out at “bullies” that trolled her during her election campaign.
Liberal Democrat Millicent Scott says a small group of people would hound her online as she attempted to engage with the electorate on social media.
Ms Scott used a lot of her time talking to potential voters in this way, and even won the Hammersmith social media election. However, when the constituency went to the polls for real on May 7, she came third with Labour’s Andy Slaughter retaining the seat.
She said: “Social media is a great way to engage with citizens and for citizens to engage with the politicians.
“I made a point of answering everyone. One person sent a message to all candidates asking to explain in one tweet why they should vote for them, and I was the only one that answered.
“But there was a lot of trolling from people who obviously supported another candidate. They were clearly targeting me, and I was the only candidate in the constituency that they had been targeting with their trolling.
“There were five or six working together who would favourite and retweet and copy. But I didn’t block them because I wanted to know what they were saying.”
Ms Scott said they would pester her with annoying comments and spread lies about her views.
She said: “It was a waste of time because they weren’t interested in voting for me. They were just interested in bullying me and it was unpleasant, unnecessary and unappreciated.”
But she said the experience would not put her off standing again in the future: “It was a whirlwind experience, a huge learning curve. It was a good experience but not a great result for the Lib Dems.
“But it makes me want to continue the fight and do it again.”
