Abusive Anti-Transgender Twitter Ad Is Pulled

A troll has used Twitter's promoted tweets service to urge transgender people to kill themselves.

Twitter says it acted quickly to take down the messages after being alerted to them, but many users said they are outraged at the abuse.

The troll account pretended to be that of Australian feminist and activist Caitlin Roper, then paid for an advertising campaign on the service.

One promoted tweet said: "Trannies, getting surgery won't change your gender.

"It will only turn you into a deformed freak. End your miserable existence. Kill yourself."

It is unclear who was behind the campaign, which could have cost hundreds of pounds to run and is likely to have showed up on hundreds or even thousands of accounts.

Advertising campaigns on Twitter must be linked to a valid credit card, meaning it should be easy for Twitter to track down the culprit.

The account was suspended within hours and the promoted tweets removed from the service.

Earlier this year, Twitter promised to do more to tackle abuse on the service. It later introduced a new filter to block bullying and threatening messages from users' timelines.

The feature is currently only available to verified users with a blue tick.

Ordinary, Twitter users have also been given access to improved systems to report abuse on the social network, after chief executive Dick Costolo recently admitted the site had a problem.

:: Anyone feeling vulnerable should contact the Samaritans via their website or call them on 08457 90 90 90.