The UK’s most prominent politicians were subjected to a deluge of abuse on X during the general election period, one of the most comprehensive studies of online abuse in politics has found.
Five politicians – Rishi Sunak, Keir Starmer, Diane Abbott, Suella Braverman and Sadiq Khan – were, between them, sent more than 85,000 clearly abusive messages between 1 May and 30 July, according to the findings from researchers at the University of Sheffield.
