Online Harassment Must Stop

It is time for this to stop. Girls and young women are demanding change. Their experiences are not “normal” and girls should not have to put up with behaviour online which would be criminal on the streets. Governments and social media companies must take action.

In the 22-country survey, girls were asked who – choosing from the police, social media companies, the government, other social media users or civil society organisations – should do more to fight against online harassment. Social media companies topped the list followed by governments.

Social media companies must use their technological skills and financial resources to put freedom online for girls and young women at the heart of their agenda.

Take responsibility for creating a safe online environment for girls and young women in all
of their diversity by initiating discussions on the topic of gender-based online harassment amongst social media users; providing reliable information on the topic to increase awareness, and providing digital citizenship education for all users.

Implement their corporate responsibility to respect human rights in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Work with girls and young women globally in all their diversity to co-create policy and technical solutions to address and prevent gender-based harassment and violence on social media platforms.

Create stronger, accessible reporting mechanisms specific to online gender-based violence, that hold perpetrators to account and are responsive to all girls’ needs and experiences, taking into account intersecting identities (including race and LGBTIQ+ youth).

Strengthen and improve content moderation to identify and remove gender-based violence in a timely fashion, also ensuring that there is parity, proportionality and transparency in their approach to content moderation across the globe.

Hold perpetrators of online harassment to account, including by timely sanctioning of gender-based harassment perpetrators, consistent with other platform violations.

Collect and publish gender and age disaggregated data, in partnership with private entities and civil society, that provide insight into the scale, reach, measurement and nature of online harassment and violence against women and girls and the digital gender divide.