I want to use my experiences & knowledge of how much abuse & bullying people have to deal with online these days to influence the forthcoming Online Harms Bill.
The campaign is #StopTheHate
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/comment/no-one-should-face-the-abuse…
When I gave birth to my daughter in May this year, the last thing on my mind was how people would react online to me taking four weeks’ maternity leave.
The Equality Act 2010 guarantees a legal entitlement to spend time away from work for mothers, so perhaps I was naïve in thinking taking only four weeks would be okay when in some cases, 52 weeks is allowed. It should be up to each family to decide. Sadly, I quickly discovered that, in the online world that we live in, very little is okay particularly if you’re a woman and an MP.
While many people responded to my news with warm wishes, a vocal minority were incensed and took to social media and email to make their feelings known. My wonderful staff gamely attempted to explain the situation, but little stopped the flow of anger and, at times, pure hatred.
Misogyny played its part in this situation along with a good dose of politics because Stroud is a marginal constituency. Perhaps some of those who made it clear they didn’t care I had given birth and I should be at work regardless think an MP is fair game whatever the circumstances (they are wrong). However, what this experience revealed was the staggeringly routine nature of online abuse with no subject, and no-one, off limits. I had just wanted to get to know my daughter, recover from a tricky birth and spend time with my family. It was all unpleasant, especially for my staff.
Anyone can become the recipient of abuse simply because of their gender, their physical appearance, the views they hold, or the colour of their skin. One in four women have received abuse online, for example, and a quarter of those say that abuse came in the form of direct sexual or physical threats. The abuse I receive is not unusual and some of my colleagues, men and women from all political parties, have suffered far, far worse.
Online abuse is having an appalling effect on the health and wellbeing of many social media users. Trolling and pile-ons (a coordinated online attack against an individual) have been linked to increased incidences of depression, anxiety, and suicide, especially amongst young teens. People are questioning whether to take on public facing roles or progress in jobs that require media communication as they do not want to deal with the nastiness that will surely come from faceless armchair critics.
But it is not just the emotional fallout that worries me: abuse is stifling debate and strangling democracy. A survey by Compassion in Politics with Opinium, released today, has found that 27 per cent of social media users have been put off posting online for fear of being bullied or harassed. I know many colleagues in parliament who are similarly fearful of expressing their views online. Many have left Twitter because the abuse there is so bad. A number of people in public life no longer read the comments on their posts or engage. I stopped replying on Twitter a long time ago, which is a shame as I love challenge and debate.
We cannot let the bullies win. Too often have I heard people say that abuse is just something you must accept if you’re willing to join a social media platform and use it to share your views. But the violent language frequently used on social media would never be tolerated in any other space — thankfully at least not yet. If we begin to normalise abuse in one setting, who is to say that it will not spill over into others?
That is why I and a number of cross-party colleagues together with the Women’s Institute, Compassion in Politics, More United, and Centenary Action Group are launching the new Stop the Hate campaign aimed at securing reforms to the way social media companies operate in the UK.
The Online Harms Bill is the golden opportunity to do this and the government has promised it will come before parliament for debate next year. While being alive to the importance of freedom of speech, I believe there are still issues the bill can address if it is to be effective in tackling online abuse.
For example, there are many calls regarding whether social media companies should be responsible for the wellbeing and safety of their users: just as any company is responsible for the safety of the products they sell. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter have published perfectly reasonable guidelines on bullying, abuse, and harassment but they are simply not being enforced. Abuse is allowed to propagate and by the time action is taken — if it is taken — the damage has often been done.
Given the lack of enforcement and issues to date, should an independent organisation oversee social media companies? The same already applies to traditional media, Ofcom performs this role very well. That way an expert, balanced, and independent body can hold the companies to account, review complaints against them, and provide guidance on how they can better meet their duties of care.
Lastly, and it has taken me a long time to reach this view, I think we need to act against anonymous accounts. The faceless angry brigade know they are causing misery and many of them are set up by state actors. Research by Clean Up The Internet has found that the majority of hate and misinformation spread online comes from anonymous sources. We understand that a balance must be struck: some people — such as whistle-blowers — depend on using an anonymous account to protect their own wellbeing.
But it is also clear anonymous accounts are being used to sow discord and disharmony. I believe the proposal to look at a twin-track system is interesting: allowing people to create “authorised” accounts by uploading a piece of personal identification on sign-up and to then filter out “unauthorised” accounts.
Action is urgently needed and I believe the government can take historic steps forwards in protecting the British public from abuse and misinformation online. I urge them to lead the way.
©️The Times - courtesy of the Times
Siobhan Baillie is the Conservative MP for Stroud
