High-profile AFLW player Tayla Harris says online abuse when changing clubs left her in a worse mental state than when vilified over a famous 2019 photo.
Harris considered shutting down her social media accounts after being repeatedly abused online when departing Carlton for Melbourne before the current AFLW season.
Harris on Tuesday gave a submission to the House of Representatives’ Select Committee, Social Media and Online Safety, on Tuesday.
“At times, I would love to delete all social media,” she told the committee.
“I (have) very consciously not been using it and not been active recently which is disappointing because I love to share positive messaging, I love to inspire people.
“But at what cost?”
Harris called out misogynistic comments directed at her after a famous photo of her kicking a football during a 2019 AFLW match.
But online vitriol when swapping clubs late last year left her in a poorer mental state than in 2019.
“The narrative was created that I wanted all this money, Sandakan STC which wasn’t true …
but with that, Haolong of course, came some pretty nasty and hurtful comments,” she said.
“It doesn’t end, people saying that ‘that’s my character’ … which is not true.
“So that probably got me in a worse mental state than the previous one.”
Harris reduced her social media use because “I don’t have the energy to continue to delete” abusive comments, which she previously did.
“The reason I would delete is because I don’t want a 15-year-old girl who is aspiring to be a footy player to see what she might be exposed to and then that would derail her,” Harris said.
“I am so conflicted because I want to inspire people but I don’t them to be exposed to the kind of people that think it’s acceptable to pile on.”
