Human rights campaigners have lodged a protest after a survey revealed that more than half of complaints by women over abuse are met with no action from Facebook.
The Survation poll, commissioned by the feminist campaign group We Level Up found that 29% of the 1,000 women who participated had been harassed on Facebook.
A spokesperson for Amnesty International UK said that the findings are “extremely worrying” and reveals a new frontier of human rights abuses that are often left unaddressed.
Social media platforms often voice out their concerns of privacy and claim to making efforts to improve their services. However, the results of the survey reveal that women are still silenced to speak out online for fear of abuse.
Participants of the survey reported that they were sent an offensive, graphic, or insulting messages or images while many also admitted to having their private photos posted without consent on other mediums. Upon complaining, 52% of the reports were ignored or told the behavior did not breach community guidelines.
Unfortunately, the findings of the survey were particularly stark for young women and women of color as 56% of women under the age of 25 and 40% of women from a black and minority ethnic background admitted to being harassed at least once on Facebook.
We Level Up that aims to lessen the occurrence of sexism in the UK accused Facebook of not taking immediate actions against the complaint of online harassment. They ask the social media company to first update their harassment policy and secondly make the reporting process convenient and easy for the victims.
The company claims that their company does not tolerate bullying and harassment and immediately remove such content, profiles, and pages upon being aware. The company also works with law enforcement agencies if there is any physical danger to their users.
A government spokesperson also released a statement where they agreed to work with the relevant companies to ensure the safety of UK citizens.
The Survation poll, commissioned by the feminist campaign group We Level Up found that 29% of the 1,000 women who participated had been harassed on Facebook.
A spokesperson for Amnesty International UK said that the findings are “extremely worrying” and reveals a new frontier of human rights abuses that are often left unaddressed.
Social media platforms often voice out their concerns of privacy and claim to making efforts to improve their services. However, the results of the survey reveal that women are still silenced to speak out online for fear of abuse.
Participants of the survey reported that they were sent an offensive, graphic, or insulting messages or images while many also admitted to having their private photos posted without consent on other mediums. Upon complaining, 52% of the reports were ignored or told the behavior did not breach community guidelines.
Also Read: 7 Types of Online Harassment to Watch Out For [Infographic]54% of the participants said that they had very little trust on Facebook when it comes to dealing with harassment issues and 72% said that the social media company required more moderators to handle complaints.
Unfortunately, the findings of the survey were particularly stark for young women and women of color as 56% of women under the age of 25 and 40% of women from a black and minority ethnic background admitted to being harassed at least once on Facebook.
We Level Up that aims to lessen the occurrence of sexism in the UK accused Facebook of not taking immediate actions against the complaint of online harassment. They ask the social media company to first update their harassment policy and secondly make the reporting process convenient and easy for the victims.
Also Read: Survey reveals Facebook U.S. user base to be decreasingWhen contacted, Facebook said that it has a developed policy that ensures users safety from harassment online. The social media giant also works with women’s safety organizations of the UK and has created features such as ignore a messenger conversation and hide/delete comments for safeguard.
The company claims that their company does not tolerate bullying and harassment and immediately remove such content, profiles, and pages upon being aware. The company also works with law enforcement agencies if there is any physical danger to their users.
A government spokesperson also released a statement where they agreed to work with the relevant companies to ensure the safety of UK citizens.
