The horrific abuse of sports stars exposes social media's mob rule | Simon Jenkins

Sonja McLaughlan is just the latest innocent victim. Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter must do more to stop the hateAfter covering last Saturday’s Wales-England rugby match, the BBC’s reporter Sonja McLaughlan found herself sitting in her car in tears. She had received a torrent of sexist obscenities and abuse on social media. “Toxic, embarrassing, disgraceful, appalling,” she said. She was not alone. After apparently being glimpsed on video absent-mindedly not applauding the Welsh team after the same match, the England player Ellis Genge suffered death threats. The two join other sportin…