The Radio 2 presenter says he is “disgusted” at social media giants after experience left him “broken”.
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Broadcaster Jeremy Vine has hit out at social media firms as he said his stalker had put out a video promising to be back days after being jailed.
Alex Belfield was sentenced to five and a half years last week, after being found guilty of stalking four people.
He posted videos and messages online about his victims and encouraged his followers to target them.
Vine told BBC Two’s Newsnight social media firms “don’t care” about hosting such material, leaving him “broken”.
The BBC Radio 2 presenter, 57, said Belfield – a 42-year-old former BBC local radio presenter – had taken him to a “really unhealthy place” and described his YouTube channel as a “fountain of hate”.
He said: “I was afraid of what he could do to my family. I was afraid because you have to think around corners with this stuff.
“And, you know, we’ve seen knife attacks on MPs, MPs being killed, people who are prominent being attacked. So I’m not trying to give myself undue status here, but I had to think this through.”
Asked about the behaviour of social media giants YouTube and Twitter during the ordeal, Vine said he had been “amazed” how difficult it was to get YouTube to take action.
“They take down individual videos and then when he’s convicted, they demonetised him. But half the videos about me are still out there,” he said.
Because Belfield told his viewers to copy and share the videos will “always be out there”, Vine said, adding “I’ve got to live with that”.
“But the fact that YouTube hosts this stuff, they have no responsibility. They don’t care,” the journalist said.
He said he was “disgusted by their lack of values” and also criticised Twitter as he said Belfield still possessed an account despite being in prison.
Image source, PA Media
The sentencing judge, Mr Justice Saini, told Belfield one of his victims had been “seconds away from taking his own life as a result of your conduct”.
Vine told Newsnight he thought if the courts had not stopped Belfield “somebody would have died”.
He said he feared that at some point one of the 400,000 people watching Belfield’s videos “going to take a knife or acid to my home”.
“The danger came from the online traffic, not from the individual,” he said, adding Belfield wanted to “create so much hatred against me that someone acted by proxy”.
“I was afraid of what he could do to my family. I was afraid because you have to think around corners with this stuff. And, you know, we’ve seen knife attacks on MPs, MPs being killed, people who are prominent being attacked,” he said.
Vine said he had to take it seriously as Belfield had put his home address out.
“I’ve got two teenage daughters, you know, I can’t be casual about it. So at that point I was scared for them.”
While Belfield never physically approached him, Vine said his actions had been worse than when he had had a physical stalker.
“That was a picnic compared to this, because what happened in this case is that you were fired on from all directions. Every time you open your phone he’s there,” he said.
According to YouTube, following a review several videos have been removed from Belfield’s “Voice of Reason” channel for violating its policies.
A YouTube spokesperson said: “Monetisation on the Voice of Reason channel remains suspended for violating our creator responsibility policy.
“Our community guidelines prohibit content that threatens individuals and we have removed several videos for violating these policies.”
Twitter declined to comment.
- Watch the full interview on Newsnight on Wednesday at 22:30 BST on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer