Following his abrupt departure from social media over a string of abusive comments, Lady GaGa has spoken out in defence of Ed Sheeran and urges people to be kinder to artists and make the internet a friendlier place. It's about time the trolling ended.

Lady Gaga live at CoachellaLady Gaga live at Coachella

After a stellar Glastonbury set, all Ed Sheeran got was criticism on Twitter. Now he's decided he'd rather not deal with it at all, and has quit the platform and left all his social media responsibilities to someone else on his team. Someone who knows all too well the harshness of Twitter has sent him her full support.

'What an incredible talented artist I LOVE ED', Lady Gaga wrote on Instagram alongside a snap of herself with the singer. '[He] deserves all our love and respect like all humans do. I wish all people on the internet would be positive and loving and apart of creating an online community that is kind and empowering, not hateful and mean. No reason to tear down an artist simply because they are on top. Work harder to be kinder everybody. That should be your first duty to humanity.'

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Ed spoke about his decision to The Sun earlier this week. 'I've actually come off Twitter completely. I can't read it', he said. 'I go on it and there's nothing but people saying mean things. Twitter's a platform for that. One comment ruins your day. But that's why I've come off it. The head-f*** for me has been trying to work out why people dislike me so much.'

It seems only appropriate that Lady Gaga show her support of Ed, as it was her fans that were one of the main causes of his grief. 'Lady Gaga's fanbase read an interview in which they assumed I was talking about her and they all f**king hate', he added. 'And it wasn't anything to do with that at all.'

More: Ed Sheeran leaves Twitter

Nonetheless, now that Ed has chosen James Blunt as his support act for his tour, he'll no doubt learn the secret to amazing Twitter clapbacks.