Time for the Tech Industry to Step Up for Women
An Initiative by
Julie Inman Grant
Australian eSafety Commissioner
Anne Dunn-Baleilevuka
Fijian Online Safety Commissioner
Gendered abuse starts young – almost 60 per cent of all girls worldwide experience some form of online sexual harm. Yes, you read that statistic right. As the world’s first online safety commissioners, we believe it is time to act on online gender-based violence so that across the Indo-Pacific and beyond, all people can reap the benefits that connectivity and critical technologies provide without fear.
Online gender-based violence can take many forms. It could be very public abuse, such as damaging slurs or intimate images posted on social media. It could be more covert – an aspect of the coercive control experienced by women in domestic and family violence situations – such as the use of spyware and stalkerware to monitor and control. Such technology-facilitated abuse can be insidious and hard to detect.
At eSafety, the Australian government body that assists Australians experiencing online abuse, we hear about the harmful experiences women have online every day. Seventy per cent of reports to us relate to gendered violence. Two-thirds of the complaints about child cyberbullying, image-based abuse and other forms of cyber abuse are received from women and girls. Even child sexual abuse is gendered, with recent Australian research finding that 84 per cent of the victims of grooming offences are girls.
Technology-facilitated abuse has not been taken seriously for too long. While online harm may not leave visible bruises, the psychological and emotional impact can be deep and enduring. It can destroy a woman’s belief in her value.
Harassment and abuse on the internet – whether from strangers or from abusers known to the target – can also lead women to withdraw from online discussions and self-censor to feel safe. We know that women with diverse sexualities or fluid genders, across a range of ethnicities, abilities and religions, are three times more likely to receive targeted online abuse than the general public. These groups are also overrepresented in statistics of technology-facilitated abuse in domestic and family violence situations.
Violence against women – a longstanding issue in Fiji – has been compounded by the reach and anonymity of social media platforms. This disturbing trend must be opposed with the same tenacity that Fiji combats violence against women and girls offline. Fiji’s Online Safety Commission receives troubling reports every day from Fijians who feel they have been subjected to online harassment. Often, these harmful posts are written in Fiji’s indigenous language, which is not monitored by the algorithms of social media companies. Women make up 65 per cent of reports, with four in ten reporting about a former intimate partner.
While these are just a few examples of the ways that digital technology can be weaponised to harm, technology can also serve as a crucial tool for women. In Australia, mobile phones are critical in helping women stay connected to their families and communities, especially during pandemic-related lockdowns. Fijian women often rely on social media and other online resources to share their traditional creative talents and products, such as woven mats, market produce and baked goods, providing a source of income for their household. Technology and social media can also be powerful tools for women and girls to engage in democracy and civic action, as well as to work, learn and socialise.
Given the central role technology plays in our lives, we cannot afford to ignore any form of gendered abuse. While interventions to address technology-facilitated abuse and online harassment will differ across countries, one thing is certain: we need to maintain women’s ability to engage with technology while preventing abusers from weaponising it. We must never believe that the solution is to remove technology from women. The solution is to empower women to use technology safely and address the abusive behaviour of others.
As government regulators, our work involves empowering people to have safer online experiences, preventing harm through education and awareness-raising, and remediating harm when it occurs. Australia’s eSafety Commissioner and the Fiji Online Safety Commission do this in partnership, using our combined regulatory powers, relationships with industry and connection to our communities. The nature of the internet means internationally coordinated approaches to address online harms have never been more important. We hope that our partnership will set an example for other jurisdictions to follow.
However, the actions governments take are only part of the picture. All those within the digital ecosystem – from internet service providers through to the developers of apps and games – must better protect, empower and support women online. It’s time for the tech industry to step up. Digital platforms haven’t done enough to make online spaces safer and less toxic for women.
To address online gender-based violence, we need device manufacturers and technology providers to understand how their technology is being weaponised and actively engineer out the potential for misuse.
This could include the incorporation of AI technologies to detect misogyny and hate speech before it is posted; or features that prevent users from creating multiple fake accounts designed to target and harass victims or share images without consent. Rather than retrofitting safeguards after an issue has occurred, platforms should focus on Safety by Design and minimise online threats by anticipating, detecting and eliminating online harms before they occur.
Social media giants need to recognise that they have a responsibility to implement inclusive policies, and to know the markets they are operating in. For example, these companies have a huge presence in the lives of Fijians, but they have no physical presence in the country. Often, they rely on the Online Safety Commission and the Fijian government to enforce the community guidelines on their platforms – particularly when it comes to content posted in indigenous Fijian languages. Fijians should be more than users for these multi-billion-dollar companies. Pacific populations might be small, but Pacific users need to be heard and represented. Investment must be directed towards the safety of all communities that use – and generate revenue for – these platforms.
As online safety commissioners, we’re focused on how we empower women to take back control of technology so that it cannot be weaponised against them, used to demean, manipulate and control. But neither government regulators nor technology companies can solve this problem in isolation. We also need to reflect on our societies and prioritise education and support through social services. Whole-community and multi-stakeholder action is needed address the societal forces that lead to technology-facilitated abuse and online harassment – whether that be misogyny, prejudice or racism. Lasting change requires all of us to work together, across all sectors and areas of expertise – and even across borders and the vast Pacific Ocean. Collaboration based on respect for women and girls, and the responsible development and use of technology, will be key to ensuring that our diverse communities can participate meaningfully online.