Federal MP's partner builds social media tool after seeing the hate she receives

The rise of online hate through social media has pushed the partner of a federal Labor MP to create a program that holds people accountable for hateful comments.

Politicians have shared their own experiences of online abuse in the wake of the attack on independent MP Helen Haines.

Launceston software engineer Liam McGrath-Bishop saw firsthand how his partner, Labor Member for Bass Jess Teesdale, endured online abuse during her election run last year.

He said one comment pushed him over the line and led him to create Clarify, a program that collects evidence across social media platforms which can be handed to police as evidence of online abuse.

"She [Jess Teesdale] posted with Anthony Albanese on a housing [social media] post … the comments that showed up, there were thousands of them," Mr McGrath-Bishop said.

"One of the worst ones was: 'I just want to slap this smug b****'s face with my cricket bat'.

"That prompted me to start making this software thinking people can't really get away with that. If you wouldn't say it to your mother, you shouldn't be saying it on a public profile."

Clarify works by pulling in comments across social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok and classifies each comment as legitimate comments, spam, slurs, abuse, bullying, misinformation or threats.

"Everything that comes in gets classified into one of those buckets. Things like threats get elevated immediately and the individual knows about it," Mr McGrath-Bishop said.

"We then collect that information across the account. If that person keeps commenting back, we have all of the evidence that we can then hand off to the AFP or police.

"If you're on a public profile ... publishing to an MP's public profile for everyone to see, that's public information. If you don't want it to be collected, don't do it."

Mr McGrath-Bishop's tool is not the only solution out there. Some senators and MPs are trialling a social media plugin called Areto, which has already flagged almost 5,000 threats and violent comments.

Areto uses AI to identify and hide abusive and threatening posts on social media accounts.

Mr McGrath-Bishop's focus is on collecting evidence and building a profile for problematic commenters.

'Dude, I know where you live'

Candidates in local Tasmanian elections have not been exempt from online abuse.

Northern Midlands mayoral candidate Adam Barnett started using the Clarify program after experiencing online hate first hand.

"It started as I announced my campaign officially on Facebook," he said.

"I knew to expect some ugliness this election, but I didn't know the overwhelming state of what some of these comments have been like.

"People were messaging me saying, 'Dude, I know where you live', or 'Go away scum'."

Mr Barnett said he used the Clarify program to monitor comments through his social media channels.

"I didn't want to subject any of these comments to my family," he said.

"In terms of building a profile on these particular issues, people need to be held accountable."

Hate speech rising

Associate Professor in Sociology at Deakin University Matteo Vergani said there were many mechanisms that could explain the rise in hate speech online.

"Major events trigger existing prejudice [and] create opportunities to express it," Dr Vergani said.

Dr Vergani is currently studying hate towards male politicians versus female politicians in Australia, and initial findings have found women attract more hate online.

"It might be because the platforms where we've done our study, misogyny is more prevalent," he said.

"But also because there is an intersection of identities which tend to be targeted by hate. Certainly being a politician is one, but being a woman is another one."

He said tools like Clarify could help monitor and block hateful comments, but they do not address the issue of hate.

"The problem is it's a minuscule part of the amount of hate that exists," he said.

"They allow more efficiently to monitor what happens in one's account ... but I don't think that will change the nature of the conversation online."

Changing the narrative

Liberal Member for Bass Bridget Archer said in her time as a federal and now state MP, she had been subject to online abuse, including references to her appearance and family.

"Hiding behind a computer screen is simply no excuse for some of the vile vitriol we see dished out, especially directed towards female MPs or families," she said.

Federal Labor MP Jess Teesdale said the narrative of online abuse must change.

"If we choose to accept that it's OK to be assaulted or abused verbally online, it flows down into schoolrooms," she said.

"The violent abuse that's happening across shops and retail is rising rapidly, our schools and our teachers are seeing this increase rapidly. We can no longer accept hate as a norm."