'Take a day off' - Dublin councillor hits back at 'miserable' online trolls
Sinn Féin Councillor Janice Boylan has hit back against “faceless trolls” leaving “nasty comments” after she opened up about her recent Bell’s palsy diagnosis on social media.
While North Inner City Cllr Boylan is currently taking a two-week break from politics to recover after suffering temporary facial paralysis, she wished to speak out against online commenters who feel the need to be negative. Citing Dublin Live’s recent coverage of her diagnosis , she thanked the many people leaving “wonderful comments” and said the level of support has been "absolutely overwhelming”. But, she explained there are others simply spreading hate.
“The majority of comments are genuinely lovely. But, as usual you have a couple of faceless trolls coming in with their negative stuff. I just want to say take a day off, get off the internet and fix yourself,” she said.
“You’re obviously miserable in your life if you have nothing else to do than come on to a post about somebody struggling through the traumatic experience of Bell’s palsy.”
Cllr Boylan said that just because she’s a public figure does not give people the right to berate her. “Whether I’m a politician or not, I’m a human being, a mother, a grandmother, a wife, a daughter, a cousin, and an aunty,” she said
“I am so many things to so many people and just really there is no need for it. But, this is all about positivity, thanks so much to all of you for helping and sharing your stories because it really gives me some comfort.”
Having been diagnosed with Bell’s palsy on Saturday, Cllr Boylan previously explained she knew something was wrong when she looked in the mirror and saw one side of her face was drooping. Now, the symptoms have worsened, which doctors told her is a normal part of the recovery process.
“The good thing is I have physio starting on Wednesday. They say if you start the physio within a week of the symptoms that the progress will be better,” she said.
As a candidate in the Dublin Central by-election, Cllr Boylan previously spoke to Dublin Live about the impact of online trolls and hateful rhetoric on social media. She has called for the commencement of Part 5 of the Electoral Reform Act, which combats disinformation, manipulation, and inauthentic behaviour during elections and referendums. This would provide a stricter legal framework to pursue those who spew hateful and false information online.
Having dealt with an online hate campaign attacking her appearance, Cllr Boylan was subjected to negative comments “talking about how I looked, how I sounded, my hair, my skin, and makeup references”. “In elections they try to target women first and foremost because they expect us to be some kind of weaker person,” Cllr Boylan said.
“We have had situations where we’ve actively got lots of people to report this type of negative activity online, only for social media platforms to come back and say there were no community standards breached,” she said.
“That has to stop. Aggression, misogynistic, racial abuse, anything like that - if it’s being done on that high of a level, it has to stop. People need to be held responsible, you can’t just be a faceless troll on social media and think your words don’t affect people.”
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