Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan has vented his anger at social media trolls again today after a man was charged for posting an abusive tweet about Captain Tom.
The war hero and NHS fundraiser died in hospital last week after testing positive for Covid-19, sparking tributes up and down the country. But that didn’t stop some people from abusing the 100-year-old man online.
Yesterday (February 8), Police Scotland revealed that a 35-year-old man has been charged in connection with an alleged offensive message posted on Twitter about the war veteran.
Piers, who has been outspoken about the subject in the past, reacted with fury at the man’s behaviour and said he was glad ‘some action’ had finally been taken.
On this morning’s edition of the ITV show, he said: “It is absolutely disgusting.
“But finally some action, I see a person who trolled Captain Tom - I’m not going to repeat what this guy said on Twitter about Captain Tom.
“It was so disgusting, so despicable, so unacceptable, and the police have now got involved because it’s a breach of the Communications Act.
“That’s what has to happen now. We’ve got to go after these people.”
It’s not the first time that harassment and abuse on social media has resulted in headlines in 2021, with Manchester United player Marcus Rashford being one of many footballers being targeted by racist abuse following matches in recent weeks.
Reality star Gemma Collins has also opened up about receiving death threats online, in an interview to be aired later this week on ITV.
Piers continued: “It’s just not acceptable what they are doing.
“There are regulations stopping it being done on television, there are regulations stopping it from appearing in newspapers, but nothing on social media.
“These morons who can just have little egg-shaped anonymous profiles and they think it’s perfectly okay to make death threats against a family of a football referee or against a reality TV star like Gemma Collins.
“Or against Marcus Rashford, who has helped one and a half million of the most impoverished kids in the country this week.
“Or they think they can do it to Captain Tom as he lay dying. It’s despicable.”
Co host Susanna Reid agreed, adding “It is unacceptable. Utterly disgusting.”
Tory frontbencher Baroness Barren has since pointed towards upcoming online harms legislation that will impose a new duty of care on social media platforms, forcing them to crackdown on illegal content.
She said: “We are taking steps through the online harms regulatory framework to ensure that online abuse, whether anonymous or not, is addressed.
“Under a new legal duty of care, companies will need to remove and limit the spread of illegal content, including illegal online abuse. All companies will need to take swift and effective action against such content.
“The Online Safety Bill, which will give effect to the regulatory framework, will be ready this year.”
The man charged with making offensive messages about Captain Tom is due to appear in court next week.
A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “On Friday 5 February 2021, we received a report of an offensive tweet about Sir Captain Tom Moore who died on Tuesday 2 February.
“A 35-year-old man has subsequently been arrested and charged in connection with communication offences and is due to appear at Lanark Sheriff Court on Wednesday 17 February.”
GMB continues to air each weekday at 6am on ITV.
