THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN THE U.S MEDIA 2015

WOMEN’S MEDIA CENTER
REPORTING,
REVIEWING, AND
RESPONDING TO
HARASSMENT ON
TWITTER
CURRENT CHALLENGES
A call for new policy and tools
TWEET AND DELETE: THE PROBLEM OF EVIDENCE
Twitter currently requires URLs and rejects screenshots as
evidence; consequently, Twitters review process doesn’t address
‘tweet and delete’ harassment, which often involves doxxing.
While Twitter updated its reporting system in February 2015 to
accept reports of doxxing, 1 there have been no public changes with
regard ! to evidence it accepts for harassment reports.
Twitter’s default URL requirement makes it complicated to report
harassment that is not associated with a URL, such as exposure to
violent or pornographic profile images or usernames via
follower/favorite notifications.
Suspensions for harassment or abuse are indistinguishable from
suspensions for spam, trademark infringement, etc.
HARASSMENT ISN’T LIMITED TO TWITTER
17% of reports mention harassment taking place on other platforms
like Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Reddit and You Tube to humiliate
or embarrass targets publicly. In some cases, reporters mentioned
harassment that threatened individuals directly through email,
personal blogs, phone calls, and physical channels.
!
Vicious attacks against women on Twitter have reached crisis levels.
A recent Pew research study found that women overall are
disproportionately targeted by the most severe forms of online abuse.
Women, Action, & the Media (WAM!) released Reporting, Reviewing, And
Responding To Harassment on Twitter, a new report that examines
gendered harassment and abuse on the platform. WAM’s report finds
that additional policy solutions are needed.
THE MANY FACES OF
HARASSMENT ON TWITTER
Among reports submitted to WAM!, the % that self-identified with the
following options on the WAM! reporting form.
27%
Hate Speech
(sexist, racist,
homophobic, etc)
12%
Threats of
Violence
3%
Revenge Porn
(or non-consensual
photography)
3%
Encouraging Others to
Harass You
(via phone or other offline methods)
4%
Impersonation
22%
Doxxing
(releasing your
private information)
19%
Other
9%
Posting False
Information
(fake quotes
attributed to you,
altered images, etc)
ON-GOING HARASSMENT WAS A CONCERN FOR REPORTERS
29% of reporters mentioned that harassment had begun more than
three weeks before submitting a report.
Most submitters who reported to WAM! claimed to have notified
Twitter previously. 67 mentioned notifying Twitter previously at
least once about a case of harassment; 18% of submitters claimed
they had notified Twitter at least 5 times previously.
1. Bhatnagar, Tina. “Update on user safety features.” Twitter, February 26, 2015
WAM! IN ACTION
In three weeks, WAM! reviewers assessed 811 incoming reports of
harassment, and of the 317 genuine reports, WAM! escalated 161 to Twitter.
HOW DID TWITTER RESPOND
TO ESCALATED REPORTS?
From the 161 harassment reports escalated by WAM!,
Twitter took action on 55%, resulting in:
70
SUSPENDED
ACCOUNTS
76%
811 total harassments reports
75%
18 01
WARNINGS
63%
161 reports
escalated
to Twitter
DELETED
ACCOUNT
ACTIONS TAKEN BY TWITTER, BY TYPE OF HARASSMENT
as a % of tickets escalated by WAM
60%
SOURCE: WAM! Harassment Reports, Nov 6-26, 2014 n-317
THREATS OF
VIOLENCE
IMPERSONATION
POSTING
FALSE INFO
HATE
SPEECH
The Status of Women in the U.S. Media 2015 TOC womensmediacenter.com 89