1. On 19th May I was approached by someone I know, who had been the victim of doxxing. They were aware that I've also been the target of online bullying and asked if they could put me in touch with someone looking into it. I said yes.

2. The person who contacted me, a day later, put me in touch with the person tasked with investigating a group of online bullies. I gave this person my evidence. I was completely candid about everything that I knew.

3. What followed were about 5½ weeks of indescribable stress. At one point I was so anxious that I self-harmed, something I've not done for years.

4. The people being investigated have spent the last few weeks attacking all those involved, and some who have nothing to do with this, on an hourly basis. I've literally lost count of how many times I've been threatened and falsely accused.

5. Now I can finally say:
It is NOT a crime to speak out against bullying.
Slander and libel do not apply if what you're saying is true.

6. The last few weeks have been utterly atrocious. At times I've felt as if I've been watching as my life and reputation were being destroyed.

7. Doing the right thing has cost me friendships. I've never felt more isolated and, frankly, scared in my life. Despite everything, I don't regret doing the right thing.

8. I won't speculate here about why I was targeted, but I will say that we as a group need to take this sort of behaviour more seriously.
The onus should never be on the victim to change their behaviour and I can categorically say that there is no "just ignore" about it.

9. The almost 2 years I've gone through this has left it's mark. It has cost me mentally, emotionally and even financially. It affected my confidence and has led me to be suspicious of following ppl back or every unsolicited dm.

10. I've met countless good ppl through campaigning and Twitter, but I've watched helplessly as these bullies hid behind a hashtag, that no one is ever allowed to criticise. I'm sure that without that hashtag, this may have been stopped sooner.

11. The urgency to belong to a group meant that criticising the identifying hashtag was akin to treason. Those misusing it were not called out by their fellow hashtaggers. That left those of us under attack from 'fellow remainers' exposed, isolated and vulnerable.

12. As I heard recently, "If you have a barrel of a thousand apples and one is rotten, unless you act swiftly, you'll have a barrel of a thousand rotten apples."

13. Authorities have taken formal action. But in my opinion there are more organised bullying rings on this website and I fear that many more ppl are being put through the same hell as I and the other victims have endured.

14. If I still tweet, I'll be applying a zero tolerance policy. I've been falsely accused of policing Twitter for expressing my opinion, from now on I won't be silent when I see bullying, abuse or targeted harassment. I hope you'll join me in making Twitter a better place.
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