I see that social media madness has hit again. Apparently, wishing all sorts of obscenities upon EU home affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmström some short weeks ago, and making us all look like Neanderthals on Facebook in the eyes of the world (yes, people will generalise) was not enough.

Now we have a former public official going a step further and blatantly wishing physical harm upon the woman.

Since then, Alfred Grima, who is also a Labour party candidate, has apologised – but that’s a bit like locking the stables after the horses have bolted isn’t it? Mr Grima’s true colours are now known to all.

Quite apart from the obvious observations that I have already made in my previous blogpost, several questions beg themselves at this stage. Will PL keep Mr Grima on as future candidate? Will they publicly censor his statement?

And more importantly is there some sort of policy when it comes to public officials and social media? Quite apart from today’s incident, it is only too obvious that guidelines regarding the behaviour of public officials on social media are sorely needed.

The pitfalls are many and regular, with many from both sides of the divide having fallen prey to the mistaken idea that chatting on a social media site is the same as having a chat in your own living room.

It’s not. And if you are a public official, it is not fine to type in the first ‘thought’ that crosses your mind and to press ‘enter’ for all the world to see.

Yes, public officials are entitled to their opinion. However, they need to be made aware that they need to exercise a degree of circumspection and decorum when airing said opinion. If they air it at all.

It is the only way to avoid the circus that many social media profiles have started resembling.

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