Online trolls piled on pain for Cleo Smith’s parents with vile posts about her disappearance

The depth of the online ugliness the parents of abducted four-year-old Cleo Smith had to endure for 18 days has been laid bare.

For 18 dark, terrible days, Cleo Smith’s parents had to endure not only the nightmare of not knowing what had happened to their bubbly four-year-old, but also being accused of involvement in her mysterious disappearance.

While Ellie Smith and her partner, Cleo’s stepdad Jake Gliddon, made impassioned pleas in the media, and on social media sites for the return of their beloved little girl, they were subjected to malicious gossip and nasty innuendo.

After their plea for information about Cleo’s whereabouts was broadcast, there were comments from online trolls that as parents they were not distressed enough, did not cry enough and even that Jake did not speak enough.

Some of the comments included: “If you weren’t guilty why would you automatically say, ‘She has been taken’. Would you be more confused?”

One Twitter user questioned why “everyone believed Cleo was in the tent the night she was abducted”, saying: “There is no proof other than the words of the mother and stepfather”.

Yet another said: “Have the parents been questioned? Arrested yet? If not it is only a matter of time.”

Cleo Smith pictured with mum Ellie Smith, her sister and partner Jake Gliddon. Source: Facebook.

Police repeatedly assured the public that Cleo’s parents had co-operated fully and were not being treated as suspects, but that did little to stop the trolling.

Just three days ago, WA Premier Mark McGowan had asked for people “to go back to a sense of decency and civility towards one another”.

“I just don’t get why all these people get all this courage when they get a keyboard and say the most horrible and shocking things that they would never say otherwise, so I just urged them to stop,” Mr McGowan said.

And after Cleo was rescued this morning, Mr McGowan acknowledged Ellie and Jake, saying “they have been through a terrible trauma and vicious attacks”.

One woman, on Twitter, said the treatment of Cleo’s parents echoed the Lindy Chamberlain case and questioned whether Australians had learnt anything from that case.

Among the posts in support of Ellie and Jake was: “To everyone who watched too many true crime TikToks, decided they were amateur detectives, and blamed Cleo’s parents: You can kindly shut the f--k up now”

Another said: “The people who are trolling the parents of Cleo Smith need to think about how they would feel if this happened to them, have a bit of empathy and compassion”.

Originally published as Online trolls piled on pain for Cleo Smith’s parents with vile posts about her disappearance