Broadcaster Erin Molan says relentless online abuse led her to quit NRL

The broadcaster and journalist has revealed the anguish she has experienced by online trolls and what drove her to quit from covering rugby league.

Erine Molan says those bullying online should not be able to hide behind anonymous accounts. Picture: Toby Zerna.

Broadcaster and journalist Erin Molan has revealed the relentless online bullying and harassment she suffered while working in the media reporting on the rugby league was a key reason she eventually stepped away from the sport.

The 39-year-old gave evidence on Thursday at a public hearing in Canberra into the Social Media (Anti-Trolling) Bill and said the “vile” attacks she received during her time on the show including threats to rape her two-year-old daughter caused her immense pain.

“I haven’t said this publicly before but the trolling element and some of the attacks that I have been subjected to for a long time are probably one of the big contributors in me walking away from rugby league, because to be honest I could either choose to be subjected that or to be a present mother to my daughter,” she said.

“You get to the stage where you actually just can’t do it anymore and I don’t think there’s any shame in that.”

The bill intends to create a framework to enable Australians to initiate defamation proceedings where defamatory material has been posted anonymously on a social media platform in Australia.

Molan joined Channel 9’s Footy Show in 2012 and said she copped online abuse during her tenure on the program and she parted ways covering the sport last year.

The program was axed in 2018 but she continued to cover rugby league.

“The nature of these comments was absolutely vile, a lot of them had to do with my gender, had to do with what I looked like,” she said.

“They were threatening, they were telling me that I should die, it was that I should be raped, that they would push me over in front of bus and this was on places like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.”

Molan, who now works as breakfast radio host on Sydney station 2Day FM and is also a prime time Sky News Australia contributor has spoken out previously on the pain she’s endured by online trolling.

She revealed earlier this year that social media giant Facebook lost her original complaint she made about vile comments posted about her on their site and they only took action after a complaint was lodged with police.

Molan told the hearing the social media platforms needed to be held to account to punish trolls who use their sites to abuse others.

“There’s got to be a responsibility somewhere when it comes to the platforms,” Ms Molan said.

Ms Molan said those bullying online should be able to be identified by the social media sites and not be able to hide behind anonymous accounts.

Former Brisbane Broncos coach Anthony Seibold also gave evidence via videolink from the UK about the ongoing bullying he received online in 2020 when his team was struggling and he did not have his own social media accounts.

The 47-year-old said more needed to be done to put a stop to the bullying.

“The lack of legislation and lack of power that police told me they had to identifying individuals in the social media platforms to me, needed to change,” Seibold said.

“I feel as though people need to provide their identity in some way, shape or form to social media platforms.”

Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson and chair of the hearing said she’s “sick of the social media platforms facilitating this sort of online abuse without any sort of accountability”.

“Anonymous posts by trolls where you can’t find out who they are can often lead to some of the worst abuse online,” she said.

Originally published as Broadcaster Erin Molan says relentless online abuse led her to quit NRL