Mum’s anguish after her disabled son, 5, becomes target of vile troll campaign
A mum is ‘sick to the stomach’ after trolls launched a vile social media hate campaign against her severely disabled five-year-old son.
Billie-Jo Hargrave, 24, started receiving messages in December cruelly abusing Dainton, who has microcephaly, a condition which causes bleeds on the brain.
She reported an account named ‘Smith See’ for mocking Dainton‘s appearance and disability, but Facebook allegedly wouldn’t remove it.
The profile was only deleted when Billie-Jo messaged them to say she had reported them to the police.
But the trolling has continued on TikTok and Snapchat, with hurtful messages featuring photos of Dainton, along with ‘malicious’ derogatory comments.
Billie-Jo said: ‘These comments are vile, sick and a disgusting thing to do aimed at a helpless five-year-old boy.
‘They make me sick to the stomach. Dainton is suffering enough and doesn’t need this on top.
‘He is a big part of everyone’s life and my family are fuming about what has happened.
‘A few weeks ago Dainton stopped breathing and was unresponsive and he is now on permanent oxygen. Everyday I have him is a blessing. I sometimes think that if I did lose him, would whoever is doing this still keep sending these messages?’
Dainton’s condition has resulted in him being blind, dependent on additional oxygen and unable to sit up without support.
Billie-Jo said: ‘I can’t think of any reason why someone would do this. Things have been quiet for a couple of months and then it started again.
‘The first time I was fuming and now I’m just thinking when is this going to end and will they take things any further? I can’t help but think all these accounts are linked together.’
TikTok said they removed the troll accounts and stressed ‘this kind of behaviour has no place on our platform’.
While these accounts have been removed, including on Snapchat, Billie-Jo is understandably still angry.
She said: ‘There has to be something more in place to initially set these accounts up because it’s happening too frequently.
‘You should have to provide some form of identification that this is actually you setting these accounts up.
‘There should be greater monitoring of accounts and some form of automatic blocker or alert when certain types of language are used.’
Facebook responded by citing there are global laws which prevent them from ‘proactively looking in people’s direct messages’ and there is an app system in place to report concerns.
A Snapchat spokesperson said: ‘Using Snapchat to send abusive messages of any kind is against our rules and we explicitly prohibit bullying and harassment of any kind.
‘If Snapchatters witness or experience this behaviour on the app, we encourage them to report it immediately using our in-app reporting tools so we can investigate and take action.’
Northumbria Police confirmed the incidents are being investigated.
A spokesperson said: ‘We are aware of suspected hate crimes involving online social media accounts. Enquiries into the reports are ongoing.’
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