Thread by @owenblacker

Next at #ORGcon: @mariafarrell with @nighatdad and Azmina Dhrodia talking about abuse online and what we can do about it

With @amnesty, Azmina released a qualitative and quantitative report using machine learning to look at the abuse sent to MPs.

In the 6 weeks up to the 2017 election, @HackneyAbbott received 45% of all abuse sent to MPs. Removing her data, female MPs of colour >

< received 30sth % of all abusive tweets sent to female MPs. Intersecting identities massively increase the amount of abuse ppl receive.

Sth @nighatdad found is that, while law in place to tackle online harassment, it wasn't enforced. And local context can make a big >

< difference, as "honour killings" mean that fake profiles claiming to be specific women in conservative parts of Pakistan can literally >

< be a threat to women's lives. @nighatdad set up a phone helpline to help women experiencing online abuse—including mental health support

(Link to @SnazzyAzzy's report with @amnesty mentioned earlier:

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)

Last weekend at #Mozfest @nighatdad spoke, as did @emilymaynot of @iHollaback. My thread then:

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#ORGcon

(And it's been pointed out in using #ORGcon not #ORGcon17. Doh; More threads earlier in my stream.)

Important to note that online harassment is a reflection of patriarchy and discrimination against other disadvantaged groups. > #ORGcon17

< It's important to address those systemic issues, as well as to recognise that online harassment has real-world effects. #ORGcon17

While marginalised groups have definitely benefitted from the Internet, it's becoming common to see established patriarchal and reactionary>

< groups using their freedom of speech as a means of excluding the freedom of speech of minority groups. #ORGcon17

While @SnazzyAzzy's report says abuse crosses party lines @mariafarrell suggests important to note majority of abuse comes from far-right

To that, @SnazzyAzzy does point out that they didn't study whether that is the case, so can't prove or disprove with data. As human rights >

< org they want to make a point about abuse in general and the intersectional nature of the abuse. Without further study can't claim reasons

Number of potential remedies for abuse: education, takedown by platforms, criminal law. What's working? @nighatdad: policy important but>

< govts will make laws for their own reasons and enforce them selectively. Noone punished for abuse sent to a woman under new Pakistani law

As at #Mozfest, @nighatdad points out an app made by white dudes in Silicon Valley wouldn't solve issues of brown woken in Pakistan

Also, whole the helpline was set up for women, they receive 37% of calls from men, almost completely on behalf of women. #ORGcon17

Though @nighatdad points out they also get a bunch of abuse—pticly from men who think women shouldn't be online in the first place #ORGcon17

Twitter says they respond to 10× as many reports of abuse as a year ago, but no transparency means we don't know if that's helpful #ORGcon17

Abuse reports can be used by trolls to have minority voices silenced. @nighatdad talks about Facebook takedowns for blasphemy & "anti-state"

Audience member asked about open-sourcing the data sample @SnazzyAzzy used for her report; they're looking into doing that atm #ORGcon17

It would also be useful if Twitter would deign to reply to @SnazzyAzzy's requests for more comprehensive dataset #ORGcon17

Audience ask about cross-jurisdictional issues for whose blasphemy, for example. @nighatdad points out PK blasphemy law is problematic and >

< she can't speak about it in detail both because it's complicated and because she has to go back to Pakistan

Q: what do you think men's role is in this conversation. Many men have left the room and not come back; do they not think it important?

*applause* to that question.
A: Yes clearly there's plenty people of all genders can and should do — flagging abuse, provide solidarity >

< share articles about why this is an important issue. Try to understand what women go through and don't hijack the conv. @nighatdad saw >

< lots of Pakistani men mansplaining what abuse is.

Maria quotes the effort involved for Azmina's report: "on a practical level, threats>

< of violence or really time consuming, taking to police, House authorities, comforting distressed staff."

Q about #metoo, @nighatdad >

< didn't see much pushback but did see a lot of women taking about childhood abuse and reporting of that, which is great to see in a >

< conservative country.
@Nesient asks abt false appearance of unpopularity that abuse can give. @HackneyAbbott is very popular in her seat

Every MP @SnazzyAzzy spoke to hesitates to talk about abuse cos they don't want to discourage other women from becoming politically involved

The main difference @SnazzyAzzy thinks could be made is that @Twitter could actually do something about reported abuse. Some MPs stopped >

< reporting abuse they receive on Twitter because there's no point—they get told that even violent threats are not ToS violations #ORGcon17

Last word from young activists in the audience: Lots of victim-blaming and silencing tactics in the face of abuse. #ORGcon17

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