Researchers from Oxford University’s Computational Propaganda project studied over 150,000 tweets in Arabic from 770 accounts identified by Twitter as having “potential Iranian origins”. Dado Ruvic / Reuters
Researchers from Oxford University’s Computational Propaganda project studied over 150,000 tweets in Arabic from 770 accounts identified by Twitter as having “potential Iranian origins”. Dado Ruvic / Show more

Twitter fails women as online abuse flourishes, says Amnesty International



Many women cannot express themselves freely on Twitter without fear of violence or abuse, Amnesty International said on Wednesday, even though the #MeToo campaign has helped women to speak out.

Abuses range from 'doxing' - releasing personal documents such as a person's address or children's names - to posting nude pictures, the human rights group said, as it launched a campaign to get Twitter to step up its response to violations.

"Many women are logging onto Twitter to find death threats, rape threats and racist or homophobic slurs littering their feeds," Azmina Dhrodia, a researcher with Amnesty and author of its #ToxicTwitter report, said in a statement.

"If Twitter is allowing violence and abuse against women to flourish on the platform, the danger is that someone experiencing that will censor or silence themselves as a result," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Twitter was not immediately available to comment. In October, however, the company pledged to toughen its rules on online sexual harassment and impose stronger penalties for misconduct.

The report follows an international study this month that found women politicians on Twitter were judged more harshly than their male peers on appearance and marital status, and were three times more likely to receive sexist comments.

_______________

Read more:

_______________

Amnesty said it asked Twitter in January for information on how many reports of abuse it gets, the number of reports that were in violation of Twitter's rules, and its response times.

It published a reply from Twitter which said the data could be "misleading" as some users report content that they disagreed with for political reasons in a bid to get others blocked.

Twitter also noted it had made dozens of changes over 16 months to improve safety, and, according to Amnesty, said it "cannot delete hatred and prejudice from society".

"We are not asking them to solve the world's problems. We are asking them to make concrete changes that truly demonstrate that abuse against women is not welcome on Twitter," Ms Dhrodia said.

In a poll last year, Amnesty found a third of women who experienced online abuse stopped contributing opinion. It found 43 per cent of women in Britain and 22 per cent in the United States felt Twitter's response to abuse or harassment was inadequate.

Twitter does have a number of tools to help users, including options to block followers, to change settings to avoid seeing certain words, and to report abuse.

In a written response to Amnesty, Vijaya Gadde, who is Twitter's general counsel, said limiting accounts that violated the service's rules on abuse had improved behaviour.

But Ms Gadde said Twitter continued to see repeat offenders who created new accounts when suspended.

Twitter's hateful conduct policy states that the company does not "tolerate behaviour that harasses, intimidates, or uses fear to silence another person's voice".

if you go
The specs: 2018 Infiniti QX80

Price: base / as tested: Dh335,000

Engine: 5.6-litre V8

Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic

Power: 400hp @ 5,800rpm

Torque: 560Nm @ 4,000rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 12.1L / 100km

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

Dubai Rugby Sevens

November 30-December 2, at The Sevens, Dubai

Gulf Under 19

Pool A – Abu Dhabi Harlequins, Jumeirah College Tigers, Dubai English Speaking School 1, Gems World Academy

Pool B – British School Al Khubairat, Bahrain Colts, Jumeirah College Lions, Dubai English Speaking School 2

Pool C - Dubai College A, Dubai Sharks, Jumeirah English Speaking School, Al Yasmina

Pool D – Dubai Exiles, Dubai Hurricanes, Al Ain Amblers, Deira International School

How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.