Homophobic abuse is getting worse, says TV star

Bobby Norris says homophobic abuse has got worse online and offline despite his 2019 petition

A reality TV star says he believes homophobic violence has worsened since he launched a petition to combat online hate six years ago.

Bobby Norris, from the ITV show The Only Way is Essex, gathered 150,000 signatures calling for online homophobia to be treated as a specific criminal offence.

His petition, on the parliament website, was debated by MPs in 2019 and he said all of the MPs agreed with his assessment of a worsening online trend.

Since the petition, he said he had fallen victim to a violent homophobic attack in which he lost his teeth.

Mr Norris, who has been guest editing the BBC Essex breakfast show, said he first experienced online homophobic abuse when he appeared on TOWIE, and it left him feeling ashamed.

"I would get trolled, first couple of years I was fine and it was always because of my sexuality," he said.

"It was never because 'I don't like you' or 'I don't like your hair.'"

He said he wished he was being trolled for his dress sense or his personality, "rather that than something I really can't change".

He said he had to develop a thicker skin over the past few years.

"I definitely noticed, it has got so much worse in the last five years. That is really worrying."

David Burton-Sampson MP said technology firms needed to do more to protect their users from online hatred

David Burton-Sampson, the Labour MP for Southend West and Leigh, said online technology companies needed to take more responsibility for material they allowed on their platforms, describing social media as a "cesspit".

"The level of abuse you get has significantly increased," he said.

"Being in the public eye seems to give people credence to think they can say what they want to you because it doesn't matter - but it does matter.

"I'm a human being - but I've got quite a thick skin, I know how to deal with these things."

He said he has concerns for his family, friends or people who may look up to him seeing the abuse online targeted towards him.

"The best way to deal with it online is to ignore it, quite frankly online abuse has become a cesspit."

A spokesperson from Meta, the parent group of Facebook, said it has moved at least 54 million young people to teen accounts, which they said had changed the way they engaged with the app.

They said teen accounts helped them give their younger users a "more age-appropriate experience".

The BBC has contacted X, formerly known as Twitter.