JK Rowling trolled Twitter after the social media site said an apparent death threat she'd received wasn't a breach of its rules. She called in police and alerted Twitter Support on Saturday after another user, claiming to be a "social and political activist" said she was "next".
The comment, from an account named Meer Asif Aziz, made the chilling remark after the Harry Potter writer sent well wishes to author Salman Rushdie, who was stabbed in New York. Aziz, who is based in the Pakistani city of Karachi, described Rushdie's alleged attacker, 24-year-old Hadi Matar, as a "revolutionary Shia fighter", then told Rowling: "Don't worry you are next".
But Rowling, who wrote the majority of the Harry Potter stories in Edinburgh, revealed Twitter claimed he had done nothing wrong in posting the Tweets.
The 57-year-old posted a screenshot of a response from Twitter Support which said: "After reviewing the available information we determined that there were no violations of the Twitter rules in the content you reported."
She Tweeted the screenshot, along with the original comments, to Twittter Support again, saying: "These are your guidelines, right?". She then quoted from the Twitter guidelines, writing: "'Violence: You may not threaten violence against an individual or a group of people. We also prohibit the glorification of violence... Terrorism/violent extremism: You may not threaten or promote terrorism...'"
We told yesterday how Rushdie, whose writing caused the supreme leader of Iran to call for him to be assassinated in the 1980s, was targeted in an attempted murder ahead of a lecture on Friday. The Indian-born British author, who was due to speak at the Chautauqua Institution, is understood to have been stabbed in the neck.
Rowling, who has come under fire from campaigners over her views on gender issues, took to the social media site to reveal her disgust at the attack, and wish Rushdie well, writing: "Feeling very sick right now. Let him be okay".
She was then targeted by Aziz, who describes himself as a "student, social activist, political activist and research activist". Rowling was swamped with messages of support and thanked fans by saying: "To all sending supportive messages: thank you. Police are involved (were already involved on other threats)."
Twitter was contacted for comment.
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