A MEMBER of Scottish Labour’s governing body has been accused of “taking part in online bullying” after following “hate accounts” targeting a Scots singer and campaigner.
Musician Iona Fyfe called out Suzan King, who sits on Labour’s Scottish Executive Committee, for following three Twitter accounts "started solely and explicitly to bully and harrass me".
King is also listed on Anas Sarwar’s personal website as promoting the page on the Scottish Labour leader’s behalf. It reads: "Promoted by Suzan King on behalf of Anas Sarwar, both at 290 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 4RE."
Fyfe, an award-winning trad singer, wrote: “Can @suzanwking, member of @ScottishLabour’s Scottish Executive Committee tell me why she has went out of her way to follow three hate accounts which have been started solely and explicitly to bully and harrass me? I should hope Scottish Labour condemns misogyny and bullying.”
Can @suzanwking, member of @ScottishLabour’s Scottish Executive Committee tell me why she has went out of her way to follow three hate accounts which have been started solely and explicitly to bully and harrass me? I should hope Scottish Labour condemns misogyny and bullying. pic.twitter.com/Cw2uqBGQxn
— Iona Fyfe (@ionafyfe) November 6, 2022
One of the accounts mocks Fyfe’s appearance, with one calling her a “professional whinge and hate-baiter”.
After King was called out, she deleted her Twitter account.
Fyfe added: “No ‘sorry, that was wrong’. Just swiftly shutting down her account. Evidence in itself that @suzanwking knows that following hate accounts that harass a woman is wrong.”
Fyfe told The National that the online harassment and bullying she is subjected to have “taken a sinister and upsetting turn”, with multiple accounts specifically targeting her having been set up over the past few days.
“It’s one thing getting the craic and having a bit of fun about football rivalries, but when several hate accounts have been created with the sole purpose of inciting hateful comments, it gets you down,” she said.
“There’s now this active want to not ‘give’ them anything to talk about or critique. It makes you want to curl inwards and not put yourself out there, which is the exact opposite of what I should do as a musician.
“I’m constantly thinking ‘how do I be perfect so they’ll go away?’. If they’re critiquing things like my nose, what on earth would they say if I gained weight? This type of stuff breeds really negative thinking.”
Fyfe said she was “deeply concerned” that King had followed the hate accounts targeting her, saying: “She has evidently gone out of her way to access all three. When challenged, instead of coming clean and admitting fault, to deactivate your account is ridiculous.
“It’s so sad that women who have an active role in politics are indirectly or directly taking part in online bullying.”
Scottish Labour declined to comment, but said that King was not employed by Sarwar or his party, and that her involvement with them was entirely voluntary.
King sits on Labour’s Scottish Executive Committee – the ruling body for the party north of the Border – as a member for Central Scotland/Glasgow.
