Presenter sent bomb hoax tweet

We asked ITV News' Facebook followers what they thought about today's boycott protest of Twitter as a protest against the recent spate of online abuse against several high profile women. Here is a selection of the responses:

Read: Twitter 'trolliday' protest against abuse divides opinion

TV presenter Mary Beard, who has been victim of a vicious online campaign of abuse and was last night sent a hoax bomb threat on the platform, has attempted to report abuse to Twitter, but has been unsuccessful.

Read: Classicist Mary Beard sent Twitter bomb hoax threat

Hundreds of people on Twitter have said they will refrain from tweeting today, to protest at the recent abuse and threats received by several high-profile women on the platform.

The hashtag #twittersilence has been top trending in the UK for more than 12 hours, as people debate their feelings on the protest.

Read: Mary Beard sent Twitter bomb hoax threat

Television presenter Mary Beard has been sent a bomb threat on Twitter hours after the social messaging site's UK boss issued an apology to women who receive abusive tweets.

The classicist revealed the message on her Twitter page last night and said she had notified police, who logged the threat.

Professor Beard said the threatening tweet was similar to others sent to women in the public eye, including columnist Grace Dent, and proved to be a hoax.

She attempted to play down the threat later, tweeting:

Twitter's UK boss has personally apologised to women who have been attacked by trolls on the social networking site, vowing to do more to protect people from abuse.

Tony Wang, general manager of Twitter UK, posted a series of tweets today saying abuse was "simply not acceptable".

Harry Smith reports:

Comedian David Baddiel told ITV News he had been subjected to anti-Semitic abuse on Twitter.

Caroline Criado-Perez, who came under sustained attack on Twitter after running a successful campaign to have a woman's picture placed on a new bank note, has welcomed Twitter's pledge to do more to tackle trolling and abuse on the platform, but said they could have acted quicker.

Read: New Twitter abuse arrest

More: Equality campaigner Criado-Perez targeted on Twitter

The head of Twitter UK, Tony Wang, has made a personal apology to the women who have experienced abuse and sexual threats on the social media platform.

Twitter has issued a new set of commitments after a spate of high-profile allegations of threats and abuse because, it says, "people deserve to feel safe" using the network.

In a blog post written by Del Harvey, Twitter's San Francisco-based head of safety and Tony Wang, Twitter UK's general manager, the service committed to:

• Update its rules to be clearer on abuse and threats
• Add an 'in-Tweet report button' to the Android application and Twitter.com (it has already been introduced on mobile web Twitter and on the iPhone app)
• Work with the UK Safer Internet Centre and include its campaigns in promoted trends

• Add more staff to its teams that handle abuse reports

The pledges come in response to a series of threats and abuse allegations in recent weeks:

• Police investigating Twitter abuse allegations by eight people
• Female journalists sent bomb threats on Twitter
• Man arrested over harassment claims directed at feminist campaigner
• MP complains to police after Twitter rape threats