3 Steps To Make Twitter A Little Less Toxic
For women, Twitter has long been a toxic place—and now there’s data to back it up.
A recent report published by Amnesty International, as part of their Troll Patrol project, revealed “the sheer scale and nature of online abuse faced by women.” The research tracked the tweets received by 778 journalists and politicians in the United States and United Kingdom during 2017. They found that every 30 seconds one of these 778 women received a tweet that was either “problematic” or “abusive.”
Not surprisingly, the bulk of the hateful tweets were directed at women of color. Even less shocking is that Black women, in particular, were 84% more likely than white women to receive an abusive or problematic tweet.
If you’re a woman of color and active on Twitter, this research only affirms your own experiences online. Though the study didn’t go into further detail, the same can be said for those who are trans, gender non-conforming, or from other historically marginalized communities. Bottomline: patriarchy is making Twitter a toxic space for many of its users.
And yet Twitter continues to be a critical place to fight back against gender-based oppression and violence. Campaigns like #MeToo, #WontBeErased and #SmashBrahminicalPatriarchy are catalyzing online discourse into offline movements for change. But sustaining abusive and violent attacks from trolls online has consequences to the mental and physical health of the individual on the receiving end.
So what to do? You could always leave the platform itself but as 18MillionRising.org’s Cayden Mak often says, divesting from platforms might feel like “ceding ground to fascists.” So here are 3 steps you can take to make Twitter and your other social media platforms a little less toxic:
Learn How to Respond To Trolls. Guess what, responding to every tweet is not the right approach. The best response is an organized one. Our online knowledgebase walks you through a series of steps you can take next time you’re on the receiving end of an attack. And while you’re on our site, check out other tips and tools to protect your digital self. You can also submit a question to our helpdesk if there’s a question or topic we haven’t covered.
Remove Your Info from “People Finder” Websites. Check out the “Preventing Doxxing” section of the Speak Up and Stay Safe(r) toolkit. If you’re the subject of harassment online, chances are eventually a troll will try to track down your personal data including phone number, address and other sensitive information. This process, also known as “Doxxing”, can actually be quite simple. You’d be surprised at how much information about yourself already lives online. This toolkit instructs you on how to remove your personal information from 5 of the most common websites used by trolls.
Answer these questions before joining a platform. Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Surveillance Self Defense Toolkit has a few questions and tips to consider when joining a social media platform. Even if you already have an account, these questions and tips will help reduce some of the potential for harm.
Technology and Revolution
All of these steps above are about actions you can take to protect yourself on social media. But how do we fundamentally transform these platforms so that they’re free of online harassment and violent speech? That’s why Center for Media Justice alongside May First People Link have launched the “Technology and Revolution” Tour. We are traveling to 6 cities to host local conversations about the need and priorities of movement based activists, organizers and technologists. Our next Technology and Revolution meeting is happening in Oakland, CA on Saturday January 26th (10am-5pm) at the Greenlining Institute (360 14th St, Oakland, CA 94612).
To receive more information and attend, RSVP here.
Learn more about digital security by visiting DefendOurMovements.org
