DEATH threats and other vile online abuse aimed at women sparked more than 1,300 reports to Wiltshire Police in the last four years, figures showed.

The county force has warned of the dark side of social media networks like Twitter and Facebook.

It came as campaigners called on web giant Twitter to enforce its own rules to protect users of the website from online abuse.

Amnesty International has accused the company of failing to protect the rights of women and must be more transparent in how it responds to abuse shared on the social media platform.

Figures obtained by Amnesty under freedom of information rule, showed Wiltshire Police have received 1,371 reports of online abuse against women over the last four years, including harassment, stalking and death threats.

Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK, said: “Thousands of women are feeling so threatened by online violence and abuse that they’re having to ask the police for help, and these figures are likely to just scratch the surface of what is a much larger problem.

“Amnesty’s previous research has shown that for far too long social media companies, like Twitter, have been a space where women can too easily be confronted with death or rape threats, and where their genders, ethnicities and sexual orientations are under attack.

“Recently we’ve seen a great wave of solidarity and activism from women around the world, and Twitter has an important role in movements like #MeToo. But the online space must be made a safer place where women can express themselves freely without fear of violence.”

Responding, Twitter said it was committed to improving healthy debate on its network.

“Abuse, malicious automation, and manipulation detract from the health of Twitter,” said Vijaya Gadde, the web giant’s legal chief.

Reports of abusive posts and users were reviewed by Twitter staff over whether or not they contravened the site’s rules. In reviewing the post, administrators take into account to whom the post was directed and who reported the post.

Det Insp Simon Childe, of Wiltshire Police's public protection department, said: “The rise of the internet and social media has in many ways been a positive step for society, but it also has a dark side.

“People very often feel brave when they are acting anonymously behind a keyboard and computer screen, but we want to send a warning. It is a crime to stalk, harass and abuse people online and we do take these offences seriously and will work hard to identify offenders and bring them to justice."

“Also, we want to reassure victims that we will listen to them and support them – we just need them to report it to us. Please pick up the phone and speak to us.”

Report abuse to police on 101.