Minnie Driver announced she is quitting Twitter after receiving "mean" jibes about her bikini body.
Earlier this week, English actress Minnie Driver was photographed strolling along the beach while holidaying with her six-year-old son Henry in Miami. Though the actress looked well in shape, even at the age of 44, the picture was subjected to some very "cruel" comments on Twitter.
The Oscar nominee isn't too happy about the "bullying comments" and plans an indefinite break from the microblogging site.
"God some people are horrible," the "About a Boy" star tweeted to her 81,000-plus followers. "You try being photographed when you don't know it's happening, when you're on holiday with your kids."
"I'm out of this Twittersphere for a while," she added. "It's too mean sometimes, about your body , about your soul. Not worth it."
Driver is not the first celebrity that has been a victim of cyber bullying, especially through Twitter comments.
Ricky Martin became a target for online bullies when he came clean about his gay leanings earlier in 2010. At that time he received a barrage of hateful messages on Twitter.
"I am bullied today... It's very weird because, you know, I'm a Twitter fan. And I check my messages all the time, and you can get 100 messages of love. And you're very happy. And then you get that one message of a hater (sic) and... if you're (having) a bad day it ruins your afternoon. It's so sad that there is still hate out there," the "Livin' La Vida Loca" singer said in an interview at that time, according to Star Pulse.
Cheryl Cole was also a victim of cyber bullying in 2012. The 30-year-old singer told Grazia magazine that she was subjected to vicious attacks on social networking sites.
"In the last few years, I've been bullied on Facebook and Twitter. It's evil and very public. People judge my appearance and hair, and say that I look fat," The London Evening Standard quoted her as saying to the magazine. "I get what these kids have gone through because I had a tough upbringing and I understand what it feels like to get bullied like some of them."
Last July, Jennifer Love Hewitt announced to her 600,000 Twitter followers that she was quitting Twitter after being subjected to cyber bulling.
"Unfortunately with all the negativity people choose to send on twitter as well as threats to there [sic] own well being. I'm sad to say twitter is no longer for me," she tweeted. "I have enjoyed all the kindness and love that came my way, as well as support. But this break is needed. Life should be filled with positivity and holding each other up, not making threats and sending bad vibes. To those of you who made it a joy Thank you from the bottom of my heart."
Judging by the recent posts on her account, it seems like the pregnant actress has had a change of heart and decided to continue on the site.
Bullying, harassment and abuse that occurs on Twitter, one of the most popular social networking platforms in the world, has sadly become a common occurrence. As bad as the abuse has been over the past several years, it also seems that it's escalating these days with racism, bomb threats, sexual and violent threats against women. According to statistics, 28 percent of young people using Twitter reported that they have experienced bullying on the network.
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers conducted a study back in 2011 which revealed there were about 15,000 abusive tweets sent out per hour, at that time. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, as of 2013, 52 percent of teens have reported being cyberbullied.
Twitter has several rules in place to deal with cyber bulling. It recommends that victims should not get involved directly with bullies. Instead, they should report the attacker(s) through Twitter's report abuse form. Recently, the social networking site took a big step toward stopping cyber bullying by launching the much needed "Report Abuse" button.
