Today marks a special day on Twitter as many take themselves off it in support of the many, many people who have been receiving abuse on the social network, including leading feminists and famous females such as historian and television presenter Mary Beard.
It's been interesting - and shocking - following the debates about abuse on Twitter recently, with debates on such mediums such as the Jeremy Vine Show on Radio 2 and it's just staggering how many warped opinions people are using both online and in person, using things such as rape as threats, and general misogynistic and downright unbelievable things said in all seriousness by individuals that sound like they've stepped out of a bad 70s sitcom.
Twitter has moved to say it will do more to tackle abusive behaviour on Twitter (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23559605) which is a good thing, but is it getting to the root of the problem?
Like the recent discussions about legislation to limit access to pornography on the internet, going for an opt-in way of working, are we tackling the wrong level in the chain? It's all very well criticising ISPs for not doing enough on porn or Twitter for not doing enough to block abusers, but should we not be going for the actual people creating the content, i.e. the people uploading the porn and the individuals uploading the abuse to Twitter?
Obviously the police have lots of work on and resources, especially in 2013, are tight, but rather than getting Twitter to block the idiots posting these messages and freeing them to just set up another account or moving to Facebook or other message boards to spout their comments, shouldn't we get to the cause of the problems, the individuals?
Today, as Mary Beard observes the one day of silence, she has received a bomb threat - http://metro.co.uk/2013/08/04/mary-beard-receives-online-bomb-threat-as-users-observe-twitter-silence-3910407/. It'll be interesting to see how this played out. Paul Chambers made an angry, off-hand comment back in 2010 threatening to blow up Robin Hood airport after his flight was cancelled (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19009344). Only media pressure and celebrity involvement stopped him from going to jail, and that wasn't a direct threat. So are we going to get the same treatment of this person, i.e. have them arrested and sent to court? A bomb threat is a bomb threat and if the police take one incident seriously then they must take the rest.
I think there is lots that Twitter - and other online services - can do to stop abuse online in all its forms - sexism, racism, homophobia, general trolling - but without tackling the root of the problem, the individuals who think it's perfectly acceptable to abuse people online in such ways, then the problem won't be solved.
Perhaps some of it is education. This generation of young children are some of the first to not know a time pre-internet so they need to be taught that saying something online is no different to saying something to someone's face. If you wouldn't threaten someone in real life or insult them, why would you do it online?
If I went onto the street now and shouted out in front of an audience 'I'm going to murder you' to someone I'd expect to be arrested. Why should it be any different threatening rape on a public social network? It will be interesting to see how this all develops.
Sunday 4 August 2013
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