Sign up with Google
bchip
Expert Member
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2013
- Messages
- 1,299
I get abuse and threats online - why can't it be stopped?
Online abuse against women is on the rise, but why aren't the police, government and social media sites doing more to stop it?
www.bbc.com
We set up a fake troll account across the five most popular social media platforms to see whether they are promoting misogynistic hate to such users. Using an AI-generated photograph, we designed our fake troll to be similar to the people who sent me abuse. Our troll engaged with content recommended by the social media platforms, but did not send out any hate.
As part of the programme, think-tank Demos carried out a comprehensive deep dive into abuse received by reality TV contestants, analysing more than 90,000 posts and comments about them. It was perhaps a surprising place to start, but programmes like Love Island serve almost as a microcosm for society, allowing researchers to compare the abuse directed at men and women from different backgrounds. Their popularity also generates a lot of online conversation.
We discovered:
- Our troll account was recommended more and more anti-women content by Facebook and Instagram, some involving sexual violence.
- Female reality TV contestants - including those on this year's Love Island - are disproportionately targeted on social media, with abuse frequently rooted in misogyny and combined with racism.
- Draft proposals from the UN to get the social media companies to better protect women have been shared exclusively with the BBC.
Social media companies say they take online hate against women seriously - and they have rules to protect users from abuse. These include suspending, restricting or even shutting down accounts sending hate.
But my experience suggests they often don't. I reported some of the worst messages I've ever received - including threats to come to my house to rape me and commit horrific sexual acts - to Facebook when I received them. But months later, the account remained on Facebook, along with dozens of other Instagram and Twitter accounts sending me abuse.
