“Enough, I’m sick of it”: Erin Molan reaches breaking point
Channel 9 presenter Erin Molan has had enough of the internet bullies and is putting her foot down once and for all by issuing an emotional plea.
The star says vicious social media trolls need to be punished after showing some of the horrifying messages she receives on a daily basis.
Speaking on WSFM 101.7’s Jonesy and Amanda, the NRL host spoke about shocking personal rumours that were spreading online about Broncos coach Anthony Seibold.
From there, Molan went on a passionate spiel about about the need to hold people accountable for their actions.
Molan is no stranger to vicious online tirades, saying she has been sent messages including “your daughter will die”, “you should die” and “I will ensure you and your daughter die”.
Unfortunately when she’s taken the horrifying messages and comments to the eSafety Commission, she’s been told there’s nothing the authorities can do.
Molan blasted the despicable trolling of Seibold, who has hired lawyers and European cybersecurity experts to trace the origin of the smear campaign against him.
She went on to praise the coach for taking action into his own hands.
Broncos coach Anthony Seibold
“Some of these rumours that have been circulating and some of the trolling that he has received has been some of the vilest that I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen some pretty vile stuff and I’ve been the recipient of some pretty vile stuff,” Molan said.
“I am so glad that he is taking action, I’m so glad that he has got lawyers. I’m so glad that he has got cyber experts from overseas.
“Trolling is not someone not liking you. Trolling is not someone going online and saying, ‘Erin I don’t like your dress’ or ‘Erin I don’t like you’. That’s not trolling.
“Trolling is vile, repeated harassment. It is threatening, it is so serious … Things need to change.”
Molan went on to say that she wants perpetrators to receive demanding threats of jail or huge fines to warn them of the serious repercussions they should face.
“The whole conversation around trolling at the moment is for the victim. Block them, ignore them, report them, got off social media,” Molan said.
“No! I’m sorry, that’s not good enough.
“Social media is really important for a lot of people. You should not have to get offline because you are being trolled. We need to change the conversation, we need to be saying to perpetrators, ‘You can go to jail, you can be fined, you can be sued for defamation for hundreds of thousands of dollars’.
“This conversation needs to change.
“I’m sick of people telling victims to get off social media or to ignore them. We need to have campaigns out there that say to people, ‘You can go to jail if you make things up that ruin people’s reputations. You can go to jail if you threaten someone’s life’.
“I know I’m fired up about this, I get very passionate about it, because this has to be a line in the sand moment.
“Trolling and bullying and the abuse of people online will never stop unless people think they will be accountable for their actions.”
Molan also called on the NRL to take a stand against social media trolling and bullying.
“The NRL should put its massive weight behind some kind of campaign and movement that changes the conversation around this so we’re no longer looking at victims and saying, ‘Just block them, just get offline’,” Molan said.
“No! Go away, that’s not right.
“Let’s look at perpetrators. Let’s scare the ‘bleep’ out of perpetrators because they need to know there are consequences to their actions.
“So let’s make there be consequences to their actions and then let’s tell people about the consequences.”