Developed in the context of the Canadian Women Leaders’ Digital Defense Initiative, a program of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS), this paper aims to increase understanding of the root causes of gendered disinformation and online abuse against women in politics and journalists in Canada, and its impact on democratic participation. [...] Trends and impact of online abuse against women in politics and journalism in Canada The four digital roundtables organized by the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS) in the context of the Canadian Women Leaders’ Digital Defense Initiative outlined a very concerning picture of online abuse against women in politics in Canada, further exacerbated by the increasing relian. [...] To better understand the context and implications of the proposals highlighted above - and their efficacy in tackling online abuse and disinformation against women in politics and journalism - it’s useful to understand the drivers, from a product design standpoint, of online abuse, and briefly outline the main approaches and legislative frameworks currently under development to address online harm. [...] Such information is essential to understand and evaluate the breadth and magnitude of 8 the investments that social media companies have been making to address this issue (including the number of people working on content moderation, their cultural competency, their position and power within the companies, and their influence on larger decisions, for example the design of income-generating algorit. [...] The reduction of online abuse and disinformation against women in politics is not likely to happen by deleting content one post at the time, but by understanding and correcting how algorithmic preferences have grown to become a serious threat to democracy, allowing online attacks against women in politics and journalism to scale and become sources of revenue for social media companies.
- Pages
- 12
- Published in
- Canada
