Twitter reacts to Zille saying she’ll deactivate her account after ‘attack’ on granddaughter

The Democratic Alliance’s Federal Council chairperson, Helen Zille, announced that she will be deactivating her Twitter account following an “attack” on granddaughter, who was born in 2017, which prompted the response of the platform’s users.

Zille tweeted a thread on her account explaining the reason behind her decision to leave the platform.

“After the grotesque treatment of my granddaughter on Twitter yesterday, I am closing this account. I say goodbye to some of my followers, and good riddance to the haters, bots and sock-puppets that constitute such a large percentage of my 1.4 million-plus followers,” she said.

She claimed that Twitter has “degenerated into a platform for irrationality and mob-lynching and everything that can be distorted and twisted for a hate-filled agenda”.

“For a long time I have sought to promote Twitter as a platform for rational and civil debate, but it clearly is not possible. It has degenerated into a space of distortion, de-contextualisation, demonisation, de-legitimation and double standards.

“Instead of democratising debate, it has severely curtailed freedom of speech and discussion. It emboldens your enemies and silences your friends. It is a space where the best lack all conviction and the worst are full of passionate intensity, as Yeats so aptly put it,” she continued.

However, Zille said she would create a private Twitter account that “will be for people interested in rational debate only”.

“I apologise for that. But this evil platform, that can find no effective way of filtering out fake accounts, and dealing with hate speech (as constitutionally defined) offers no alternative. Go well if you mean well. I’m out of here,” she concluded.

Here’s what Twitter had to say in response:

It's about bloody time. 2020 is really getting rid of racists. 😏

— Lelo wa le Buccaneer ☠ (@Dipolelo_1) February 17, 2020

All this vile responses! Helen you may leave, but you will never be forgotten.

— 🇿🇦Life Is 2 Short, Live It🇿🇦 (@tlmlotshwa) February 17, 2020

(Compiled by Molefe Seeletsa)

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