Grin and bear it.
There's not much you can do if someone decides to launch a parody of you on Twitter.
That's what Richmond mayor Malcolm Brodie found out this week when someone took to the social media site with a short-lived, Not Malcolm Brodie listing that lampooned the four-term mayor.
The site, which posted Brodie's photo and went by the Twitter handle @dimsumbrodie, had been suspended as of Wednesday morning.
While no other explanation was offered for its status, according to Twitter's rules an account can be suspended for a variety of reasons, including impersonation.
"You may not impersonate others through the Twitter service in a manner that does or is intended to mislead, confuse, or deceive others," the rule states.
At the same time, users are allowed to create parody, commentary, or fan accounts (including role-playing.)
Twitter's Parody, Commentary, and Fan Accounts Policy states that, Twitter provides a platform for its users to share and receive a wide range of ideas and content, and we greatly value and respect our users' expression. Because of these principles, we do not actively monitor users' content and will not edit or remove user content, except in cases of violations of our Terms of Service.
In a prepared statement, Brodie said, "Social media offers great opportunities to improve our communication with each other, but too often these opportunities are being abused by people who simply have malicious intent."
"Harassment should not be tolerated at any time in any form. In a civil society, hiding behind the blanket of freedom of expression is no excuse for using public forums to ridicule and attack another person or group using hurtful and offensive language."
Setting up a parody on Twitter account is not an unusual occurrence, but is mostly reserved for public figures with higher profiles than regional, civic politicians, said an SFU communications expert.
"Usually, it involves much more famous people than local mayors. But I'm not surprised to see something like this at all," said SFU associate communications professor Peter Chow-White.
As for what action someone can take if they find themselves parodied online, Chow-White said, "They can't do a whole lot in terms of stopping people because this is what social media is used for - public expression, an alternative form of media for various sorts of people, especially everyday folks. And in this case it's an alternative form of political engagement, as well.
"If they (parody subjects) don't like what they see, they can respond on Twitter. If it gets into the defamatory or defamation, there are legal routes they can go. But Twitter is not a Canadian service, so I'm not sure what the legalities are for something that does not originate in Canada."
The Richmond News won't print examples of the tweets, and the site was suspended down before Chow-White viewed it, however, he believed that from the Twitter handle (@dimsumbrodie) it potentially had some racial overtones.
"This is where racism also gets a voice, like he's (Brodie) pandering to something that someone finds is maybe not a valuable part of Richmond," Chow-White said.
He added that Richmond has gone through enormous change in the last 10 to 15 years, and some residents may not have been in favor of the results.
