Labour MP hits out at ‘completely fake’ viral article in support of Shamima Begum
Labour MP Jess Phillips has hit out at a “completely fake” headline that went viral on Twitter suggesting her support for jihadi bride Shamima Begum.
The image, shared on Twitter, included a mocked up headline that read “Whilst some around her were losing their heads, Shamima Begum kept hers – she would make a fine Labour MP”, with Phillips’ name and picture underneath.
Sharing the image herself on Twitter, Phillips branded it “completely fake” and said it was putting her family and staff at risk of violence.
Sorry somehow lost the first bit of thread there let's start again. 1.Yesterday I was alerted to a completely fake headline that was being put on @Twitter about me, that puts me my family and staff at risk of violence. It is completely fake pic.twitter.com/Q37hVNB0Sm
— Jess Phillips MP (@jessphillips) July 23, 2020
https://t.co/SLi1HlLvSD had been shared 280 times by the time I saw it and reported it to @TwitterSupport reaching a possible audience of millions. I have no recourse to take further action as this was an anonymous account.
— Jess Phillips MP (@jessphillips) July 23, 2020
https://t.co/zadfb4GucL is designed only to incite hatred and I find that this often happens when I speak up against the powerful. People share in good faith without realising the sinister motives/organise efforts that struck the initial match.
— Jess Phillips MP (@jessphillips) July 23, 2020
4. Had it been in any publication I could act but as it is I am left just to deal with the fallout and aggression. This has got to change.
— Jess Phillips MP (@jessphillips) July 23, 2020
Phillips said the fake headline had been seen by possibly millions of people, and that she was unable to get it removed after reporting it to Twitter.
The MP criticised the image as being “designed only to incite hatred”.
Begum, 20, was one of three London schoolgirls who travelled to Syria to join Isis in 2015 and was stripped of her UK citizenship last year.
The Court of Appeal last week ruled she should be allowed to return to the UK to appeal the decision.
Phillips has previously spoken out about the abuse she has received on social media, calling for parliament to act against anonymous trolls.
In the past she has contacted police about threats of rape she had received.
Speaking at the Cheltenham Science Festival in 2018, Phillips said that she was subjected to “bile and abuse” on a daily basis by anonymous trolls and received 600 rape threats in just one night.
She said: “In my own experience, the violence and aggression I am threatened with every single day has its peaks and troughs depending on what I’m talking about.
“If you speak from a feminist perspective, which I very frequently do, you will suffer from a huge amount of internet trolling, largely from what seems to be the Alt Right.”
