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Twitter Troll

Female journalists receive bomb threats in escalation of Twitter troll row

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By John Glenday, Reporter

August 1, 2013 | 2 min read

A row over so-called Twitter trolls has escalated after an unidentified user issued a fake bomb threat to three female journalists on the micro blogging site.

Guardian columnist Hadley Freeman, Independent columnist Grace Dent Catherine Mayer, Europe editor of Time magazine, were recipients of a sinister late night message from a user identified only as @98JU98U989 which read: “A BOMB HAS BEEN PLACED OUTSIDE YOUR HOME. IT WILL GO OFF AT EXACTLY 10.47PM ON A TIMER AND TRIGGER DESTROYING EVERYTHING".

The tweet was subsequently screen grabbed by Dent and tweeted out for her own followers, describing it as a ‘new low’, before contacting the Metropolitan Police. Fellow target Freeman added: "If it's illegal to threaten to bomb an airport, it's illegal to threaten to bomb me."

It comes just hours after 100,000 people signed a petition imploring Twitter to beef-up its oversight of content following abuse directed at a feminist campaigner and female MP.

In response the micro-blogging service has said that it will include a button to report abuse within every tweet, linking directly to their existing report form.

A Met Spokesperson confirmed that they were in receipt of several allegations and that enquiries were ongoing.

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