THE chair of the Labour Party has said that some posts on social media which criticised the Princess of Wales broke laws on hate crimes and that firms have been too slow to take action against trolls.
Asked if more should be done about anonymous trolls promoting conspiracy theories about Princess Kate, Anneliese Dodds told GB News: “That question has come up, of course, repeatedly, but you also see people who are very happy to be identified who've been propagating in some cases very extreme views that would actually contravene UK law and we've not seen quick enough action being taken by X.
“Yvette Cooper, who's Labour's shadow Home Secretary, she revealed…many different messages that were posted on X that would have broken in fact our hate crime and extremism provisions within the UK and action had not been taken.
“These companies have got to get far more of a grip and we've been calling on the Government to push them to do so as well.”
In a discussion with Camilla Tominey, she said: “There's been some really lurid speculation about Her Highness, of course, on social media. It must have been extremely distressing to her.
“It's such an incredibly difficult time, it would be difficult for anyone, but going through something like that in the full glaze of publicity, I think must be incredibly hard.
“We do think that more needs to be done, particularly when it comes to the kind of online abuse that we see so repeatedly directed a lot of the time actually towards women, towards ethnic minority people. We need to be getting more of a grip on this.
“We think the internet companies need to be doing more. They're highly profitable companies. They do need to be getting more of a grip on this.”
On the controversy about Nike’s change to the England flag on the new kit, she said: “I think most of us feel that there's nothing wrong with the St George's cross, that's what they should have been sticking with.
“What I have to say when it comes to football shirts, there'll be lots of parents watching this, knowing quite how extraordinarily expensive it is to get the kits for their kids…
“Football is so important to lots of people, me included. It's really important that people can support their teams in an appropriate way and really show that backing that they have for the England team, both men and women as well.”
She added: “I would like to certainly see the companies looking at this, because we want our kids to get excited about football. We want them to then be going out and playing on the playing fields, in the park, having that kick-about, getting fit.”
Asked about the Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves praising Margaret Thatcher, she said: “You don't have to agree with everything that Margaret Thatcher did - I certainly don't - to actually appreciate the fact that she did turn our country in a particular direction, in my view, often the wrong direction.
“But she did turn our country in a particular direction. She had a particular political drive. What have we had over the last few years? We’ve actually had five Prime Ministers, seven Chancellors, 12 different failing plans for growth, no plan, no drive, no direction, with Rachel you would have that direction.”
