Anti-Troll campaigners accused of bullying and “astonishing cruelty” by ex-employee
A former staffer at the newly formed Centre for Countering Digital Hate has quit after what she describes as “ugly, repulsive treatment”
The former employee, who requested anonymity, described an atmosphere of “obsessive bullying” that ran entirely counter to their message of online harmony.
“They made us swear on a copy of their guide that we would devote our lives to “destroying the trolls” and every morning we had to chant “we will never waiver in our commitment to an online of peace” before we started work.”
“They started calling me ”Moomin” from the start, and it was sort of funny at first, but it soon became clear that they were insulting me. After a few days I politely asked them to stop but they just called me a troll and carried on. If anything they ramped it up.”
“I would go home crying almost every night. It was relentless. They actually took money from the budget to have an insulting doll made of me. I arrived for work one morning and there it was on my desk with a card attached that said ”fcking moomin bastard”.
The organisation formed in response to what they claim is an epidemic of the unpleasant online behaviour known as “trolling” and have garnered support from such celebrities as Rachel Riley, who herself has been the subject of criticism for encouraging a “pile-on” of a mentally-ill teenager and comparing the Durham Gala to a “klan rally”.
The former staffer also gave a harrowing account of how employees were punished for minor infractions, for example being 10 minutes late:
“They would send you on a coffee run where each coffee would be really specific and they would demand you go to a branch of Costa much further away because they suspected the manager at the closest one was an internet troll. When I got back the coffees would inevitably have gone cold, so they would pour them onto the floor and make you clean it up.