On the day Twitter celebrates 12 years since the first tweet, Amnesty launches campaign challenging Twitter’s failure to prevent online violence and abuse against women
Fewer than 1 in 10 British women think Twitter is doing enough to stop online violence and abuse
“They will call white women a ‘c*nt’ and they’ll call me a ‘n*gger c*nt’” - Imani Gandy
“For far too long Twitter has been a space where women can too easily be confronted with death or rape threats” – Kate Allen
Twitter is failing to keep women safe from violence and abuse, Amnesty International said today (21 March), as it releases new evidence proving how ‘toxic’ the platform has become for women.
In a new report, #ToxicTwitter - the result of interviews with more than 80 women, including politicians, journalists, and regular users across the UK and USA - Amnesty exposes how Twitter is failing to respect women’s rights, and warns the social media company that it must take concrete steps to improve how it identifies, addresses and prevents violence and abuse against women on the platform.
The women's testimony details the shocking nature of violence and abuse they are receiving on Twitter, including death threats, rape threats and racist, transphobic and homophobic abuse. Public figures, MPs and journalists are often particular targets, but people who aren’t in the public eye are also experiencing abuse, especially if they speak out about issues like sexism and use campaign hashtags.
A new Amnesty survey* of more than 1,000 British women has revealed the severe lack of trust women have in Twitter’s ability to deal with the issue. The findings show:
- Only 9% of British women think Twitter is doing enough to stop violence and abuse against women;
- 78% of British women who expressed an opinion don’t think Twitter is a place they can share their opinion without receiving violence or abuse.