Twitter Trolls

In this article, The Shift News reports that female journalists and politicians are on the receiving end of an avalanche of abusive tweets, receiving such tweets ‘every 30 seconds on average’. This information came from a study released by Amnesty International.

Twitter is a fast social network. Posts refresh rapidly and news, whether trivial or critical, can be followed live in a series of short and succinct pieces of text linked with relevant hashtags. This is advantageous when used well, but clearly greatly disadvantageous if utilised by the wrong hands. 

With such rapidity of newsfeeds, such a swell of ‘abusive or otherwise hostile tweets’ is made possible, though it shouldn’t be. Often the ones behind such tweets will argue that it is free speech after all, and who are we, campaigning for our freedom of speech, to limit them from speaking their minds? Such an argument is one I hear or see online (for trolls generally prefer to hide behind the anonymity of their screens) far more than any other. They are, of course, completely missing the fact that their words are not based on a constructive argument or backed up with logical reason, therefore falling under the category of hate speech. Criticism is only constructive if polite, given with respect towards the subject and backed up with reasons why one sees fault or has a differing opinion on the topic.

But it is important to note that it is women who are targeted the most, as opposed to men, and furthermore it isn’t simply women from one sector alone.

One of the study’s main findings is that online abuse targets women from across the political spectrum – politicians and journalists faced similar levels of online abuse and we observed both liberals and conservatives alike, as well as left and right leaning media organisations, were targeted.

Throughout history, women have always been deemed the inferior sex. The first wave of feminism came about because of women wanting – rightly – the right to vote. How was it just that only men were allowed to decide who was to lead their country and make decisions in their name? The second wave of feminism came a few decades later, and this one saw women demanding reproductive rights and positions in the workplace. Most people today, upon hearing the word ‘feminist’, roll their eyes because they think of this radical wave, where women, frustrated by the male dominant ideology, fought for a woman-centred world. But seeing how even in this day and age women can be abused online (and in real life, too), you can begin to understand that the second wave of feminism was justified, though of course, today feminism means equal rights for both genders. It is maddening, however, that a man can feel that he has every right to verbally attack a woman because she sticks her neck out for good. Amnesty International’s report shows just how many of them there are. I’m sure it is other women behind the abusive tweets, too, and not simply men alone – too easily do some women take it against others of their own gender, either out of hatred or to save face or gain the favour of men.

It isn’t easy to combat abuse online, especially on such fast platforms, but something must be done. The social networks themselves should do something from their end, but it seems that this isn’t happening:

The report found that, as a company, Twitter is failing in its responsibility to respect women’s rights online by failing to adequately investigate and respond to reports of violence and abuse in a transparent manner which leads many women to silence or censor themselves on the platform.

And what a shame this is - women censoring themselves to avoid abuse. Their voices matter.