In March, we launched our global campaign to stop online abuse of women on Twitter and it’s been ramping up ever since!
Amnesty activists collected hundreds of petition signatures on the ground, thousands of people have emailed Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, and our national women’s rights network is blooming.
Ads promoting our online action are reaching thousands more people on Facebook and Twitter. And on Wednesday, to launch the campaign, we held a stunt outside the Twitter headquarters in Sydney and showed Twitter what we’re made of. We even ran a huge projection with our key message on George St in Sydney and smaller projections in and around central train stations in Melbourne and Brisbane. Our spies told us, that people stopped to talk about them all night!
We know that Twitter is feeling the heat and we’ll keep it up until they take action to enforce their own policies and stop online abuse of women on their platform.
Twitter has become a megaphone for powerful movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp – movements designed to defend the rights of women. And yet, the freedom of women to express themselves is routinely silenced by toxic abuse on the platform.
Despite repeated promises by Twitter to clean up their act, huge numbers of women are logging on to find rape threats, death threats, racist slurs and homophobic insults littering their feeds.
Social media platforms should amplify women’s voices – not silence them.
Our new report #ToxicTwitter: Violence and abuse against women online reveals how Twitter is failing to respect the human rights of women. It also outlines what the company can do to become a safer place for women online.
It’s time Twitter put its own rules into practice to stop this from happening. This means consistently enforcing their own policies that explicitly say violence and abuse against women has no place on Twitter. Because women want to be on Twitter – without fear of being shut down by prejudice and hate.
Let’s stand with thousands of women around the world to say #TimesUp #ToxicTwitter! Let’s make sure Twitter is a safe place where women can express themselves freely, equally and without fear.
HERE’S HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED
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- Send an email now to Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey and tell him to enforce Twitter’s own policies on online abuse and harrassment.
- Groups can hold stalls, have conversations and collect petition signatures to stop the online abuse of women. There are a whole bunch of fun resources groups can use to campaign locally here. Contact your local action centre if you need more info.
- Amnesty’s national women’s rights network has been busy collecting Twitter actions & holding events and stalls to let Twitter know that #TimesUp for online abuse of women. The national network is also planning an entirely activist-led women’s rights campaign in Australia in 2019. They are looking for new members if you’re keen to join! The network meets quarterly via zoom and telephone while local networks meet in person more often. To join the women’s rights network, contact your local action centre and be part of an amazing team of activists campaigning for the rights of women worldwide. RSVP to the next national hookup on the 7 June here.
