BBC’s Louise Minchin quits social media following online abuse

BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin has quit social media after receiving online abuse.

The TV host said that the decision to leave sites such as Facebook and Twitter was “a long time coming”.

Writing in wrote in Cheshire Life magazine, She said: “You might think I am oversensitive (I probably am), and need to grow a thicker skin (I probably do), but the truth is I can read a hundred nice comments about me but it will be the nasty one I will remember, try as I might to shrug it off.

“Recently the level of acrimony on social media reached unnerving levels, with people constantly shouting at each other, whipping up outrage and throwing around wild assumptions.

“I realised, I had had enough of reading it and being drawn into the cycle of negativity.”

Minchin has been a presenter on BBC Breakfast since 2006 and her current co-host Dan Walker has voiced his support of her decision on Twitter.

If you read some of the bile that comes through it would be easy to see why she made the decision. As Louise said… "I was allowing people into my house to shout at me. I decided to close the front door" ???????????? #BBCBreakfast https://t.co/3DuDSQMfQF

— Dan Walker (@mrdanwalker) December 31, 2019

Walker has been Minchin’s co-presenter since 2016 and often features in her behind-the-scenes Instagram photos.

The two discussed the story on BBC Breakfast this morning (31st December) and Minchin clarified that she still signs in occasionally but has deleted the apps from her phone.

"Stepping back" from social media @louiseminchin tells us why she's been spending much less time online over the festive period.#bbcbreakfast pic.twitter.com/3qCfGQnSOZ

— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) December 31, 2019

Minchin added that leaving social media sites meant she has more time to be “reading books, watching box sets and actually using my mobile to speak to family and friends.”

“It’s much better than falling into a rabbit hole of darkness,” she added.

Minchin is far from the first public figure to quit social media over abuse. Star Wars actress Kelly Marie Tran deleted all her Instagram photos following online harassment in 2018, and the same year Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown quit Twitter after being targeted by memes.