You never know when a disgusting creep will appear from a dark corner of the internet. Using its anonymous nature, keyboard warriors are sharing some of the most disturbing thoughts they have, and even little kids can become subjects of their hateful treatment. Recently, Twitter trolls used a picture of Sophia, a severely disabled 9-year-old girl to promote abortion. Her mom, Natalie Weaver, responded in a way every mother would - she started a war against hate speech.
Sophia was born with facial deformities as well as deformities to her hands and feet. When she turned one, the girl was diagnosed with Rett syndrome, a brain disorder that permanently affects children's language and motor functions. As a result, Sophia needs her family to take care of her 24/7.
"She's had 22 surgeries," Weaver told CNN. "She has a feeding tube. A colostomy bag. She has seizures and choking spells because of both the deformities and the rare genetic disorder."
Everything began after changes to healthcare coverage in their area were proposed. As a healthcare activist, Weaver started to speak out more about Sophia's genetic disorders, and it wasn't long until trolls targeted the little girl. "People, they seek you out and want to hurt you," Weaver said. "Some people go out of their way to make sure you see their cruelty. I get people telling me to kill my child, to put her out of her misery."
One attacker really wanted to be heard. Not only did they share Sophia's photo along with a paragraph supporting coerced abortion, but they also tagged Weaver's Twitter handle and sent her a direct message.
"I blocked it. I just hoped it was gone," the mother said. "But it was never removed. The account remained." Weaver claimed Twitter had even sent her a message saying the post did not violate their policies.
Time passed, but the tweet was still up, and the hurtful account behind it was still active. "[The troll] was mentioning my name and reaching out to my followers on Twitter," Weaver said.
The original tweet with Sophia's photo attached to it kept haunting Weaver. She asked people to report it and even told her story to a local news station, hoping to put enough pressure on Twitter it would take everything down. After about a week and a half of nonstop coverage Weaver got, she received another message from Twitter. They apologized, they removed the offensive post, and they suspended the account it came from.
Satisfied with the result, Weaver started talking about the way Twitter review such content. "Twitter needs to add people with disabilities as a category in their violation reporting," she said. "Otherwise people don't know the appropriate category to select for hate towards disabled people."
A company's spokesperson pointed out to CNN the platform's "hateful conduct policy." It says, "You may not promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people by race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease." "All of these considerations are taken into account when reviewing reported violations of the Twitter Rules," the spokesperson said.
The Weavers daughter Sophia was born with facial deformities as well as deformities to her hands and feet
Image credits: Natalie Weaver
When she turned one, the girl was diagnosed with Rett syndrome
Image credits: Natalie Weaver
This brain disorder permanently affects children's language and motor functions
Image credits: Natalie Weaver
"She's had 22 surgeries. She has seizures and choking spells because of both the deformities and the Rett syndrome"
Image credits: Natalie Weaver
But she also has two siblings that love her very much
Image credits: Natalie Weaver
After changes to healthcare coverage in their area were proposed, Weaver started to speak out more about Sophia's condition
Image credits: Natalie Weaver
And it wasn't long until trolls targeted her little girl, some even borderline telling the mom to "kill her, put her out of her misery"
But even after receiving such cruel messages, seeing her daughter's pic along with a paragraph supporting coerced abortion came as a shock to the family
Not only did they share it on Twitter, they tagged Weaver's Twitter handle and sent her a direct message
Image credits: Natalie Weaver
After blocking the account a few times, mom was frustrated to see it was still up
Image credits: Natalie Weaver
Weaver claimed Twitter had even sent her a message saying the post did not violate their policies
Image credits: Natalie Weaver
But it kept haunting Weaver
Image credits: Natalie Weaver
She asked people to report it and even told her story to a local news station, hoping to put enough pressure on Twitter it would take everything down
Image credits: Natalie Weaver
After about a week and a half of nonstop coverage Weaver got, she received this message from Twitter
Many people had been supporting the family throughout this whole time
