How tech companies are failing female workers and social media users—and what to do about it

From Elon Musk’s erratic start as Twitter’s new owner to Meta .’s recent decision lay off more than 11,000 employees recession for tech stocksThe social media sector is once again in turmoil.

But while these latest shock waves have attracted a lot of public attention, little has been said about their consequences for the planet. women. Big tech companies are disappointing women on both sides: employees and users of their services. Here’s why recently switched to regulate social media companies should include specific protections for women.

Online abuse, as ever repeatedly confirmed by academic research And civil rights groups, usually aimed at female users. One of Musk’s first actions after buying Twitter was to introduce verification to reduce the number of fake accounts. Such accounts are often quoted of the main causes of society media violence. But authentication process (since withdrawn following protests from the Twitter community) simply rely on “certified” profiles that pay a monthly fee.

As such, the move appears to be more of a way to increase revenue than an effective online safety strategy. To make things worse, and more or less at the same time, Musk is also controversial account has been restored of a number of celebrities were previously banned for their false discourse about women. This includes self-identified “sexist” influencers Andrew Tate.

Beyond the tycoon’s chaotic leadership approach, these decisions reveal broader trends in the social media industry with far-reaching ramifications for women.

In fact, over the past few years, platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok have all responded to growing public pressure by adopting stricter guidelines against hate speech based on gender. However, these changes are mainly achieved through self-regulating and voluntary partnerships with the public sector. This approach gives companies the freedom to reverse previous decisions Musk’s way.

Besides, censoring individuals on the internet and promoting account verification doesn’t really address the root cause of violence on social media. The actual design of these platforms and the business models these companies use are more central.

Social media platforms want to keep us all online to generate beneficial data and maintain audiences for advertising. They do this with algorithms that generate echo chambers. This means we continue to see content similar to whatever drew us to the click in the first place. But research shows that this also facilitates spreading “divisive” messages. It also supports the spreading sexism onlineand push users viewing problematic documents to the “black hole” of related updates.

While these platforms themselves have become problematic for women using them, many of the companies behind them are also failing female workers who build and manage online social media networks. .

Excess technology company

The treatment of employees by social media companies should also be viewed through a gender lens, especially more recently when they response to market downturn with mass layoffs and other cost-cutting strategies.

One is particularly at-risk (which I have reviewed, among others, in recently published book) of social media moderator. These employees are tasked with cleaning up platforms with content that violates community standards. They are frequently exposed to hate speech, images of sexual violence, and non-consensual pornography. female employee tend to feel particularly activated and much develop mental health problemsincluding depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Social media companies and their international subcontractors (most of the moderation operations are outsourced) offer other options that also violate the rights of employees, especially female moderators . One of the newest has been set AI-powered camera in the homes of remote operators. This is a particularly brutal intrusion for women as they often face harassment or safety issues in more public places.

Online abuse and treatment of workers involves people of all genders. However, women pay a special price for violence on social media. Recently Research from The Economist shows that fear of new invasions has pushed nine out of ten female victim surveyed to change their digital habits—7% have even quit their jobs.

Specific solutions to online hate

Like female worker and users experiencing specific problems due to a social media policy—or lack thereof—interventions designed to improve their safety and well-being must also be specific.

My book examines how digital capitalists—including but not limited to social media corporations—fail users and female workers, and how to fix this. Among the reforms I propose are interventions to make platforms more accountable.

The UK Online Safety Bill for example, is set up to give regulators the power to fine or prosecute companies that are negligent in removing harmful materials. However, the important thing is policy changes in this area specifically identifies women as a protected subject, which this measure can’t do it right now. Commitments to the platform’s algorithmic and regulatory transparency around data mining business models can also be helpful, but so far has not—or has not been fully integrated—into most national and international laws.

And since workers must be protected as much as users of technology, it is important that they can organize through unionsand that there is a push to ensure employers respect their duty of care to the workforce. This could, for example, involve banning intrusive surveillance in the workplace.

There’s a solution to both problems: it’s time for the social media giants to implement specific strategies to protect women on both sides of the screen.

This post was reposted from Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read original article.