“Take It Down’s success rests entirely on the shoulders of survivors,” Jenna Sherman, campaign director at the feminist organization UltraViolet, told Jezebel.
“We’re currently witnessing a very high-profile case that involves a very, very rich and powerful person and are experiencing together with Cassie the courage it takes to look your abuser in the eye, in court, in public,” Arisha Hatch, the interim executive director of UltraViolet, a woman-led gender justice organization, says.
Experts are warning of more political violence amid a furor over Rep. Paul Gosar’s (R-Ariz.) animated video that featured him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and attacking President Biden with two swords.
“We are talking about this one video but we are really talking about a bigger picture,” Bridget Todd, the communications director for gender justice organization UltraViolet, told this column, referring to the Gosar tweet. “They are counting on this idea of ‘Oh, it was a joke, it’s just Twitter.’ But we have to do something to make sure this kind of behavior is not normalized.”
Todd added that the video was “emblematic of a deeper culture toxicity, and we need to call it out for what it is.”
None of the major social media companies are excelling at preventing harassment and abuse against women on their sites, but some like Reddit and Twitter are faring better than others, according to a new report by an advocacy group shared exclusively with The Technology 202.
Developed by feminist group Ultraviolet, in collaboration with researchers at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue think tank, the “misogyny report card” gave platforms including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok subpar-to-failing grades for not taking greater steps to shore up their policies against harmful treatment of women. That’s especially the case for women of color, Ultraviolet wrote, who “face an onslaught of both racist and misogynist attacks, including vicious gendered disinformation campaigns.”
“Across the board, social media platforms fail the test when it comes to creating an internet experience that is safe and inclusive for Black women, women of color, and LGBTQ people,” Ultraviolent wrote in its findings, released Wednesday, which dozens of advocacy groups are rallying around to call for policy changes.
The report card, which assigned sites letter grades from A to F based on how thoroughly they have implemented recommendations that groups say are needed to curb gendered abuse, gave top overall marks to Reddit with a C and Twitter with a C-.
The group credited Reddit and Twitter with having “fairly robust” policies against hate speech, but say the platforms should expand their policies against gender-related forms of disinformation, including about “abortion, pregnancy, eating disorders, and extreme dieting.” They also praised Reddit for partnering with a mental health text line that helps victims of harassment or abuse.
“Reddit, the platform once known as a haven for white supremacy and misogyny, has set itself apart as an industry leader in the last two years by making robust changes to its hate speech policies, as well as to moderation and enforcement,” they wrote.
Facebook and Instagram drew the lowest marks, with a D- and an F, while TikTok and Google-owned YouTube fell in between, earning a D+ and a D, respectively.
The group called Facebook’s enforcement of its policies against harassment and disinformation “slow” and said the company “fails victims of harassment by putting the burden on them to report each individual post and user.” And they argued that Instagram needs to do more to differentiate its policies from Facebook to address problems that are more pronounced on video- and image-based platforms, such as body image issues.
Feminist advocates said the incident served as a reminder of how social networks are failing women, including high-profile users like Ocasio-Cortez.
“While it’s no secret that social media platforms can be toxic places for women of color, Gosar’s perpetuation [of] violence against Rep. Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter is completely unacceptable,” Bridget Todd, communications director at UltraViolet, said in a statement Tuesday.
UltraViolet and 74 other advocacy groups and nonprofits including Color of Change, MoveOn and Media Matters called on all six social media networks in a letter to adopt new policies to mitigate risks to women on their sites.
Instagram has attracted a firestorm after whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed internal research showing the platform downplayed proof of its toxic effects – including the rise of eating disorders – on children.
But such issues are not limited to the Facebook-owned social media company. The Guardian has found a variety of harmful pro-anorexia hashtags remain searchable on the popular video-sharing app TikTok, where corresponding videos have billions of views combined.
‘More dangerous than Instagram’
Todd said that TikTok, compared with Instagram, may actually be “more dangerous” because of the demographics of its users. The video app surpassed 1 billion active monthly users in September, 60% of whom are between the ages of 16 and 24.
TikTok-specific features have prompted a number of concerns unique to the platform, research from UltraViolet found. TikTok’s “For You” page, a feed of videos from accounts users may not even follow that is recommended by an algorithm based on viewing history, makes it possible for problematic content to start “trending” with little friction. One experiment by the Lowy Institute found, for example, that TikTok’s politically neutral feed turned conservative and far-right in just a day of looping, liking and sharing certain content.
Todd said TikTok’s use of augmented reality camera filters can also contribute to negative body image, especially for young girls. While both Snapchat and Instagram have said they won’t allow filters that promote or mimic plastic surgery, TikTok has dozens of beauty filters that let young girls change their skin, face shape, body shape and more.
“This contributes to creating an impossible standard of beauty,” she said.
More and more women have felt comfortable telling the stories of abuse and harassment in the wake of the #MeToo movement. But coming forward still carries the risk of retaliation, particularly when someone is a public figure.
Shaunna Thomas, co-founder and executive director of women’s advocacy group UltraViolet, said the women publicly accusing Cuomo, the New York governor, face extreme risk in the process.
Cuomo, she said, has for years been seen as untouchable. Publicly accusing someone at that level of power comes with emotional and mental ramifications, but also with the added risks of being attacked online, enduring campaigns aimed at undermining their credibility, and possibly being fired from a job or not hired for a job because of the notoriety they take on.
“There’s no real path to holding him accountable in a way that doesn’t damage you as the outer,” Thomas said. “It’s going to take a tremendous amount of courage and willingness to put yourself in a position of being attacked by a well-oiled government machine that has been put in place to protect Gov. Cuomo his entire career.”
Sheryl Sandberg is under fire for her work as Facebook Chief Operating Officer during the 2016 election. Women’s advocacy group UltraViolet is backpedaling their previous support for Sandberg ahead of the upcoming election.
The press release, titled “UltraViolet Says Facebook is Powering Violence that Harms Women” accuses the COO of Facebook of turning the social media platform into a “right-wing playground.”
UltraViolet co-founder and executive director Shaunna Thomas elaborated: “In 2012, UltraViolet members stood up for Sheryl Sandberg and called for her to be added to Facebook’s board of directors – thinking she was a smart and empathetic leader who cared deeply about improving the lives of all women. We were wrong.”
Adding: “Sheryl Sandberg is in a position where she could have been a champion for women facing attacks on Facebook, but she and Mark Zuckerberg have turned Facebook into a right-wing playground where misogyny, racism, disinformation, violence, and hateful conspiracy theories grow and spread. Women deserve better.”
Thomas shared the quote on Twitter. “Sheryl Sandberg tells women to ‘lean in’, and when they do, they are attacked on the platform she helps run,” Thomas wrote. “We’ve had enough. Look out for an ad from us this weekend calling her and Facebook out and demanding changes NOW.”
“The point of view that’s forwarded is that sexual assault is a function of individual behaviors — it’s one bad apple — but that institutions have no role to play, that they’re not liable,” said Shaunna Thomas, the executive director of Ultraviolet, a progressive group that advocates for gender equity. “It is not a function of a bad apple here and there. It is everywhere, and it is systems and institutions enabling that behavior and protecting and in some cases elevating sexual predators to positions of more power.”
Progressive women’s groups are putting millions towards a campaign to disrupt disinformation and sexist, racist attacks against Senator Kamala Harris — an escalation of their attempts to combat gendered and racially biased narratives around the Democratic vice presidential nominee.
Ultraviolet — in concert with other prominent groups like Emily’s List, Black PAC, and Color of Change — formed the Women’s Disinformation Defense Project, an amalgamation of groups collectively set to throw more than $20 million into ads, research, and offensive strategies that will counter biased narratives on social media and online in real time, especially for voters in battleground states.
“I can’t say ‘this person is seeing this,’” Shaunna Thomas of Ultraviolet told NBC News about those types of narratives and disinformation. “But you can say ‘here’s a group of voters who fit the profile of people who we know are being targeted’ and ensure that they are seeing a different message.”
Even before Harris was even named as Biden’s running mate, prominent female Democrats and women’s groups promised to call out any sexism or racism and take steps to disrupt bias taking hold in political coverage and voter outreach.
Ahead of the first, and only vice presidential, debate, Thomas is prepared for bias to seep in — in online forums or on the stage.
Harris allies, including former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, have been vocal warning about the thin line that women candidates often walk on the debate stage because of double standards applied to them. Clinton recently advised Harris to be “firm and effective” when rebutting Pence, but to “do it in a way that doesn’t scare or alienate voters.”
For Mike Pence’s part, his preparations for the debate stage against Harris have included practicing ways to best Harris without opening himself up to criticism that he is acting in a disrespectful or sexist way. Pence is being advised “not to attack a woman,” one ally told NBC News.
Women’s rights and advocacy organizations on the left have been working together to promote Harris’s candidacy. This week they are gearing up too against what they fear will be sexist or otherwise biased attacks during the vice presidential debate Wednesday.
The long list of organizations, including BlackPAC, Color of Change PAC, EMILY’s LIST WOMEN VOTE!, Planned Parenthood Votes! and UltraViolet say they are working in tandem on messaging and outreach. On the phone with ABC News, Shaunna Thomas, the head of UltraViolet, argued that female politicians are still more likely to face attacks — subtle as they may be — about their qualifications, trustworthiness and character. She said the coalition was planning to release content on social media and around neighborhoods Wednesday with an eye toward women of color in battleground states.
“It makes sense. It’s natural that people would immediately be concerned about their access to basic health care like IUDs and birth control, and that would motivate them to act,” Sonja Spoo, director of reproductive rights campaigns at UltraViolet, told BuzzFeed News Sunday. “This is the fever dream of the anti-choice movement, to have the pick at the Supreme Court that Trump promised to deliver for them.”
A coalition of left-leaning groups is asking television executives for a one-minute delay in the Republican National Convention prime-time broadcast to provide time for journalists to fact-check the speeches and presentations in real time.
“We have already seen Americans die due to disinformation around the covid-19 pandemic and the search for a treatment. We have also seen an increase in hate crimes, police brutality, and racial injustice due to inflammatory and racist disinformation on the news,” according to the letter, sent by UltraViolet, Higher Heights Political Fund, NARAL Pro-Choice America, Emily’s List Women Vote!, BlackPAC and other groups.
The letter was addressed to executives at CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC and CBS. The groups noted that in the past, cable networks have cut away from live events such as the White House briefing to provide quick fact-checking of inaccurate comments and said they hope a similar arrangement will be made for the convention, which starts tonight and airs through Thursday evening.