Emma Roberts calls for social media regulation to stamp out Internet trolls
Emma Roberts believes social media platforms need better regulation to clamp down on Internet trolls.
The 33-year-old actress has dealt with a lot of online hate since she started her career as a child star and claims it's given her a "thick skin" but she's convinced companies like Instagram need ask their users to provide identification regulation in a bid to stamp out the culture of anonymous Internet trolling.
She told Variety: "You get these comments that can be rude. So I try not to look at it, because it’s just people want to hate.
"I feel like I’ve dealt with that since I was 12 years old, so I have a thick skin around it. But it just does bum me out. We’ve just cultivated now this hate culture towards celebrities and towards movies and television online. Where it used to be like five people reviewed a movie, and now it’s like you have people that won’t even say what their real name is saying how much they hate something."
Emma went on to share her idea to lift the veil of anonymity around online comments, adding: "I’m like, 'At least everyone should have to put their driver’s licence number into their Instagram account, so you’d probably think twice before you said something rude if we had your driver’s license info'."
The 'American Horror Story' star also revealed she grew a thick skin while auditioning as a child actress - and being told she was "too old" for a part at the age of nine has stuck with her all these years.
She explained: "The one that got away in the beginning was [2001 movie] 'I Am Sam' which the amazing Dakota Fanning obviously got.
"I came close, but the feedback was, 'You’re a little on the older side' and I was nine. To be told you’re on the older side at nine, I was like, 'There’s my thick skin'. It grew right there."