Kathy Dunderdale shuts down Twitter account over porn fuss

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Kathy Dunderdale deleted her Twitter account on Wednesday night, shortly after a report that showed she happened to be following an X-rated account that featured pornographic videos.

Dunderdale said that she had not used her Twitter account for a lengthy period, and had no knowledge that she followed the account.

"I have not used my Twitter account for over a year very purposefullyI have decided to disengage from Twitter," she told reporters on Thursday. "I don't mind if my cabinet minister, or my ministers, or other people do it, but as premier of the province, I have taken the position personally that I don't want to be engaged."

CBC News reported on Wednesday that several government MHAs who have steadily denounced New Democrat Gerry Rogers for being a member of a Facebook group that contained threatening posts had questionable connections themselves, including Dunderdale's own list of followed accounts.

But rather than delete that Twitter user from her list, Dunderdale or her staff shut down the @kathydunderdale account.

Dunderdale said she does not feel she needs to take part in all forms of social media in order to stay in touch with the people of the province.

"Is there some requirement that I have to read every letter, read every email, have a Twitter account, be engaged in Facebook? I have all kinds of opportunity to hear from the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, and I have the freedom to choose which one of those, or how many of those tools, that I'm going to use," Dunderdale said.

Dunderdale said politicians have an obligation to maintain a professional public profile while using various social media platforms.

"We live in public life, we're examples to people, we need to be careful about what we're doing," she said. "When I found that somebody had attached disturbing material to my account, I disassociated myself with it immediately and took it down immediately.

"Another thing that I've been involved in all my life is anti-violence work, and I particularly understand how pornography contributes to violence against women and the degradation of women, and let me tell you, I am not going to be associated with anything that promotes that kind of behaviour," Dunderdale said.

Rogers was ejected from the house of assembly on Tuesday, even though she said she had been added to the Facebook group 'Kathy Dunderdale Must Go!' without her knowledge or consent.

Some Tory MHAs said Rogers was effectively condoning violent threats against Dunderdale because of her membership in that group, a charge that Rogers said was absurd.

Earlier this week, Dunderdale denounced Rogers for being sloppy in management of her social media activity.

"As an MHA, when you're on Facebook, when you're engaged in Twitter, then you have to have an obligation to pay attention," Dunderdale told reporters on Tuesday.

Dunderdale continued the attack against Rogers in her statement on Wednesday night.

"What remains troublesome is that we have a similar case where an MHA has chosen to remain a part of a group that has allowed many violent and threatening comments," Dunderdale's statement said.