New tool on Twitter to help women report harassment.
Harassment against women has been on the rise and microblogging website Twitter has decided that it must aid in reducing it, if not bringing it to a complete end. It is working with advocacy group Women, Action and the Media to create a tool that women can use to report harassment on the microblogging website itself.
WAM is a group that advocated better representation of women in the media and other spheres. They already have a tool that allows users to report any incidences of harassment against women and the group has said that they will forward these complaints to the microblogging website within 24-hours of receiving the report.
However, they have also stated that they will not have full control over what Twitter chooses to display on their site. Through the medium of Twitter, the voice of a victim can be shared much faster and to a wider audience. This might be effective in blocking people/taking the appropriate action against cyber bullies.
This announcement comes in the wake of heavy criticism that Twitter has come under after it was not able to effectively block twitter trolls. There have been so many reports of people harassing women on Twitter, sometimes situations have gone out of hand. A perfect example of this would be game reviewer Anita Sarkeesian, who received death threats from an internet bully, where she needed to call the cops eventually.
