Leslie Jones harassment: Does Twitter have a problem?
A barrage of hateful, racist, and misogynistic tweets about black comedian and 鈥淕hostbusters鈥� star Leslie Jones on Monday has renewed the debate about how Twitter should deal with hate speech.
Twitter addressed Ms. Jones鈥檚 plea first with a tweet Monday from its chief executive, Jack Dorsey, for Jones to personally message him. Later, the social media platform announced that it has 鈥渢aken action鈥� on many of the accounts that targeted Jones because it prohibits their abusive nature. Yet the controversy shows the recurring difficulty Twitter has found offering a platform for free speech while not becoming a venue for hate.
鈥淲e realize we still have a lot of work in front of us before Twitter is where it should be on how we handle these issues,鈥� a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement shared with 海角大神 on Tuesday. 鈥淲e rely on people to report this type of behavior to us, but we are continuing to invest heavily in improving our tools and enforcement systems to prevent this kind of abuse.鈥�
Once thought of as the (as the general manager of Twitter UK described the company in 2012), Twitter adopted harsher guidelines against abusive speech in 2015, following the online harassment of feminists in the gaming industry. In its Twitter writes it does not tolerate behavior that, among other things, harasses users. Users are prohibited from abusing or harassing others, or directly attacking or threatening others on the basis of race, ethnicity, and gender. Twitter can temporarily lock or permanently suspend any accounts that engage in such behaviors.
On Monday, months of criticism about an all-female cast of "Ghostbusters" from fans of the franchise and online trolls gave way to racist, misogynistic, and graphic tweets about Jones. Film director Paul Feig intervened, starting the hasthtag adopted by thousands of followers Monday 鈥� #LoveforLeslieJ 鈥� but not before Jones implied she was so hurt she would no longer use Twitter.
In addition to Mr. Dorsey encouraging Jones to reach out to him, Twitter said in the statement it shared with the Monitor it has 鈥渢aken action鈥� against many of the accounts Jones and others reported.
Ever since it was created, Twitter has been forced to confront the conflict between its and 鈥渢he practical realities of running a for-profit business,鈥� as Motherboard, the online magazine, wrote in January, in an article that traced the history of Twitter鈥檚 rules.
Through 2013, Twitter adopted a permissive free-speech attitude. 鈥淚t has explicitly concluded that it wants to be rather than civility,鈥� wrote Jeffrey Rosen in 2013 in the New Republic.聽
But a series of controversies that year and the year after involving vitriolic online harassment forced Twitter to reconsider its position. Anita Sarkeesian, a feminist activist who questioned how women were depicted in video games and comics, said she was repeatedly threatened with rape. Caroline Criado-Perez 鈥� a feminist activist and blogger, who was instrumental in the Bank of England鈥檚 decision to put a non-royal woman on the banknote 鈥� was also the target of abuse. In light of these events and other instances of celebrity harassment, Twitter slowly began to adjust its policies.
Vijaya Gadde, general counsel at Twitter, announced the change in attitude in an op-ed in The Washington Post in April 2015.
鈥淚t is not our role to be any sort of arbiter of global speech. However, we in ensuring that differences of opinion do not cross the line into harassment,鈥� wrote Ms. Gadde. 鈥淔reedom of expression means little as our underlying philosophy if we continue to allow voices to be silenced because they are afraid to speak up. We need to do a better job combating abuse without chilling or silencing speech.鈥�
In January, Twitter created a Trust and Safety Council, composed of 40 organizations, which includes the Anti-Defamation League, the Internet Watch Foundation, and the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. The council provides input on Twitter鈥檚 automated products, policies, and programs that monitor hate speech and other forms of abuse.
The council was immediately dubbed ""聽by some free-speech proponents.
Gadde, general counsel at Twitter, foresaw the difficulty not only for Twitter, but also the internet will have in resolving this conflict. 聽
鈥淲e know that our efforts to protect both the safety of our users and their right to express themselves freely will create tensions that can be difficult to resolve,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淏ut those difficulties simply acknowledge the importance of those underlying values. These are tough issues that challenge Twitter and the Internet generally....鈥�
