Alliance MP Sorcha Eastwood has claimed she is receiving death threats after being attacked on social media by the Tate brothers.
The 39-year-old MP for Lagan Valley told the House of Commons she was a “survivor of abuse”, after she received rape and death threats for criticising Elon Musk in a post on the social media platform X, which prompted responses from the Tate brothers.
“I couldn’t believe what was happening. I couldn’t believe I was being attacked by the Tate brothers. It wasn’t even about them,” she told Sky News in an interview.
The broadcaster revealed it had seen a document which appeared to show Tristan Tate describing the MP as a “nice target.” When approached for comment, the Tate brothers denied orchestrating a "targeted campaign" against her.
Ms Eastwood is currently undertaking legal action against influencers the Tate brothers over the social media posts.
“I was very concerned. To me, that is a direct attack on me serving my constituents and the wider public in the UK as a legislator,” she added.
Andrew Tate has previously been banned from TikTok, YouTube and Facebook after the platforms accused him of posting hate speech and misogynistic comments, including that women should bear responsibility for being sexually assaulted.
Both he and his brother Tristan are facing a number of criminal legal cases. They are accused of human trafficking and forming an organised group to sexually exploit women in Romania. Andrew Tate is also accused of rape. They also face separate, unrelated charges of rape and human trafficking charges in the UK.
Throughout these proceedings, Andrew and Tristan Tate have consistently denied all allegations, asserting that they are being targeted unfairly.
It comes as Ms Eastwood is set to host a backbench debate on the impact of digital platforms on UK democracy on Thursday.
She believes parents are "crying out for guardrails" to protect young people on social media, following the popularity of the Netflix show Adolescence, which exposed the insidious nature of online culture, isolation, and the dangers of cyberbullying.
Ahead of the debate, she said: "I think a lot of people have just resigned themselves to some sort of inevitability about this and in actual fact, I think our young people, and certainly those who care for them, whether they're carers, adults and people that are in and around supporting our young people, mums and dads, guardians.
“I think they're crying out for guardrails."
She added: "Certainly not having any protections and no laws and not revisiting the age of consent, I think is completely wrong, because as far as I'm concerned, we know that it's harmful. It is absolutely harmful.
“It's damaging our young people. It's damaging society."
