Unfortunately, some of the negative effects of a report abuse button that people have feared seem already to have happened. Shortly after the function became available on certain smartphone apps, accounts like @transphobes - which retweets the kinds of violent threats and hate trans women and men get online, to raise awareness of bigotry against them - was suspended.
Whether it was targeted by a concerted campaign of opponents or automatically suspended without being reviewed by Twitter is unclear. It certainly raises the question: how easy is it to mistake awareness-raising for bigotry? And what does it say when Twitter bans an account for retweeting things it otherwise is not acting to stop?
Within 48 hours the account was reinstated. But other similar accounts have also reported problems, with accounts devoted to revealing the bigotry against sex workers and others also facing suspension in the past. However the groups raising awareness of this kind of bigotry do not as yet gain mainstream notice - so who would notice when they disappear?
One thing is clear: playing whack-a-mole with online abusers is unlikely to change their tactics, and may also hurt 'the good guys' in the process.
Perhaps the solution is thinking beyond simply the symptoms, and what ends up online. ?What we do need is more sex and relationship education for young people - there needs to be a lot more emphasis on this in schools," McCarthy said. As online lives increasingly converge with "real" ones, it makes sense that the best way to tackle misogyny and other forms of bigotry should start well before anyone gets behind a computer keyboard.
andy roddick Costa Rica Earthquake sandra fluke costa rica Earthquake Costa Rica Clinton speech Michael Strahan
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.