Twitter, women’s advocacy group team up to stamp out online sexual harassment

Twitter, women’s advocacy group team up to stamp out online sexual harassment

The move comes in the wake of the "GamerGate" controversy.

Twitter has teamed with a women’s advocacy group in an attempt to crack down on female harassment online.

Women, Action and the Media (WAM) created a form that Twitter users can use to report “gendered harassment,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

WAM, which has been designated as an “authorized reporter” by Twitter, will then report valid instances of harassment to Twitter.

Specifically, users will be able to flag instances of an impostor account, violent threats, encouraging others on Twitter to harass someone offline, or “any of other several defined categories.”

As concern about female harassment online has grown, including the GamerGate controversy that has included death threats and threats of rape and violence against women who are vocal about sexism in video games, Twitter is attempting to get out in front of the issue.

In October, a Pew study found that a quarter of women online have been sexually harassed, and about the same number have experienced instances of stalking. As a result, women’s rights groups are concerned that these actions are silencing the voices of women online.

Twitter expects it will be able to resolve valid reports within 24 hours with the new system. WAM will also track Twitter’s responses to help the social media company better police harassment on its system.

WAM called it a “pilot project” to learn about harassment on Twitter and how it intersects with other kind of harassment, and what Twitter can do to prevent it.

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