LAST month she revealed she was the victim of identity theft as a scam account on Facebook pretended to be her.

Today Caithness, Sutherland and Ross MSP Gail Ross has announced she's quit the social media platform altogether.

The move comes after a member of the public was tricked into providing personal details to the copycat account.

In a parting salvo posted on Twitter, Ross, who is standing down in 2021, said: "I have deactivated my personal & MSP Facebook pages.

"Reasons — someone gave personal details to a stranger pretending to be me, terrifyingly accurate targeted ads, lack of proper scrutiny given to fake news, subversion of democracy — it's not a platform I wish to use any more."

The National:

The announcement comes weeks after Ross revealed she had been the victim of an "appalling" identity theft that had been reported to the Scottish Parliament security team and Police Scotland.

A fraudulent account in her name had been set up using a photograph copied from her official page. Ross said it had been sending and recieving messages under false pretences.

At the time, she said: "Being an elected member carries a huge amount of trust and I deal with lots of confidential information on a daily basis. Some of the messages I have seen make me very worried indeed.

"The thought of this person pretending to be me makes me feel sick and very angry."

Ross stated: "The fact that someone has taken the time to set up a fake messenger account in my name is bad enough, that they have actually been contacting people and pretending to be me is appalling. 

"No-one should have to endure this but to target vulnerable people in this way is sickening and I am horrified that there are people out there that may think this is me.”

In late June Facebook announced it was to launch a new drive against hateful content and fake news on its site in the wake of a major campaign that saw more than 150 firms, including Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Unilever announce temporary halts on their Facebook advertising activity.