Martin Lewis has blasted Twitter a a ‘horrible’ place as trolls accused him of making up a story about his daughter.
The financial expert, who has become a staple on TV as he advises on how to cope with the increasing worries of the cost of living crisis, regularly shares updates with followers on the social media platform.
Most often, the Money Saving Expert tweets about the economic crisis and politics, however this week he shared a personal story about his daughter sapphire, nine.
In a now-deleted tweet, he said he had asked his daughter what she thinks the government’s job is, to which she seemingly replied: ‘The government’s job is to help shape the country.’
He said he was ‘blown away’ by her ‘brilliant and succint’ answer – but what appeared to be a simple story from a proud dad led to mockery from some Twitter users.
Martin later issued another comment where he said: ‘Twitter really is a horrible place sometimes.
‘I tweeted a nice little comment about my little girl. Only to get lots of @_DHOTYA replies.’
DHOTYA – or Didn’t Happen Of The Year Awards – is an account dedicated to sharing social media posts that appear to be made up, often posts from parents claiming their young children said something profound or philosophical.
Followers of the page will sometimes flock to social media posts they deem to be untrue, tagging the page in the replies.
Martin went on: ‘Why would i bother making something like that up.’
‘I was proud of her. I’ve deleted it, as i can’t be bothered with people who want to ruin it (sic).’
He went on to clarify it wasn’t the DHOTYA account itself who accused him of making it up, but people in the comments ‘copying it in.’
The owner of the popular page also said they were ‘distancing myself from any of this,’ adding ‘if anybody has ever earned immunity from DHOTYA this year it’s Martin Lewis.’
Martin was recently awarded the National Television Award prize for TV expert, taking home the coveted gong at last week’s ceremony.
In a speech accepting the prize, he used his time on stage to deliver a swipe at the government for the ongoing impact of the cost of living crisis on the nation.
He outlined how it had been ‘a pretty horrible year financially’ and the energy crisis had ‘ left many people with terrible issues and mental health problems.’
‘And you know what? We need somebody to get a grip on the economy and put things a little bit back,’ he went on.