A joint international statement has called for urgent action on gender-based online abuse and trolling after ‘gendered disinformation’ has been labelled a threat to society.
A global partnership centred around action on gendered online harassment has seen the governments of the UK, USA, Australia, Chile, Denmark, France, Iceland, the Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden and New Zealand present a united front after a ‘ground-breaking’ 2023 study exhibited information suggesting women, girls and the LGBTQIA+ community are targets of ‘disinformation’ and smear campaigns.
Gendered Disinformation: Tactics, Themes, and Trends by Foreign Malign Actors, called the spread of gender based terminological inexactitude a form of ‘misogynistic abuse’ and served to proliferate stereotypical falsehoods designed to slander targets – which include journalists, policy makers and activists.
The study, published by the US Department of State, said ‘perpetrators use sex-based narratives, often with some degree of coordination, to deter women from participating in the public sphere. Both foreign state and non-state actors strategically use gendered disinformation to silence women, discourage online political discourse, and shape perceptions toward gender and the role of women in democracies’.
There were claims that ‘perpetrators of gendered disinformation targeting women comprise both foreign state and non-state actors, including Russia and the People’s Republic of China’ and the main targets of abuse were those with intersected identities, usually female. Online abusers, who’ve been dubbed ‘foreign state actors’, are said to create false images, videos and spread memes to create a co-ordinated directive to reflect the supposed aims of ‘foreign states’.
Despite the report specifying countries with ‘state actors’ who spread disinformation, including the PRC – Chinese media have reported that the People’s Republic of China has ‘stepped up its fight against cyberbullying’. Taking administrative and judicial measures to protect netizens’ rights and ‘further purify the online environment’.
The legislative action was a response to widespread public outcry after a mother from Wuhan took her own life after her primary aged son was hit by a car and killed. Following the tragic incident the mother took to social media to talk about his death. Scores of internet trolls made derogatory remarks about her looks and said ‘she still had time to do her make-up’ despite grieving.
Despite the level of public indignation over the Wuhan mother and other cases involving women, the comments were not cited as a direct cause of suicide. However, the response of citizens to online bullying of females in particular- did trigger action on the part of the PRC.
The government announced earlier this week that the undersigned country members of the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse have called attention to the urgent need to counter the spread of gendered disinformation. This includes ‘addressing all forms of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) against women in political and public life’.
The government statement said: “Gendered disinformation is a threat to societies defending peaceful, democratic values. False or misleading gender and sex-based narratives are being used in campaigns by malign actors to deter and discredit the participation of women, girls and LGBTQI+ persons in political and public life.
“This not only causes deep harm to the individuals targeted, but also threatens electoral integrity, access to information and the exercise of freedom of expression. At the same time, new and emerging technologies are being used to enable harmful, violent rhetoric and attacks against women, girls and LGBTQI+ public figures across borders at a scale and speed previously unseen.”
In the partnership’s 2023 Road Map, a commitment to promoting ‘meaningful participation in public life for women and girls, in all their diversity, by countering TFGBV and gendered disinformation’ was declared after the gendered disinformation study shone fresh light on tactics used by faceless online harassers. These ‘tactics’ of which 13 were identified, including the hyper-sexualisation of political or professional females – are said to sow the seeds of identity-based disinformation.
The Global Partnership have said: “We call upon states to join us in recognising and taking action to counter the threat of gendered disinformation to democracies globally. We urge technology and other private companies to take appropriate action to respond to this threat, including a commitment to a Safety-by-Design approach to the development and deployment of platforms and technologies. We ask states and all stakeholders to defend and protect the ability of women, girls and LGBTQI+ persons to participate in public life freely, safely and without fear.
” More than 100 countries have held, or are soon to be holding elections, many of them taking place under democratically challenging circumstances. The active participation of all people, including women, girls and LGBTQI+ persons, is essential for secure, healthy and prosperous democracies.”
In August 2022, the UK government re-visited the concept of making online misogyny a hate crime after a report by the Law Commission, supported by the House of Lords. The House of Commons raised apprehensions after major women’s groups, such as Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis, claimed that making online misogyny a hate crime by law could potentially cause harm and make it even harder to secure convictions.
In 2018, the Government asked the Law Commission to conduct a wide-ranging review into hate crime to explore how current legislation could be made more effective, which included whether ‘sex or gender’ should be added to the various characteristics currently protected by hate crime laws.
Fast forward to March 2024, where the Global Partnership and members of its Advisory Group co-hosted a multi-stakeholder conference convened by the National Democratic Institute on possible responses to countering the spread of gendered disinformation in the context of electoral processes. Stakeholders affirmed the need for a comprehensive response to disrupt the spread of gendered disinformation and to support victims and survivors.
Recently, the Online Safety Bill became law. It requires tech companies to reduce harm to women and girls online. Ofcom, the regulator, will develop guidance to achieve this goal. Upskirting and revenge porn legislation have also been strengthened in a bid to reduce online gender based attacks.
