Ofcom vows to name and shame platforms over online sexism
1 hour ago Share Save Zoe Kleinman Technology editor Share Save
BBC Demi Brown, women's sport advocate and former Love is Blind UK contestant, says she has muted certain upsetting words on her social media accounts after experiencing trolling.
The media regulator has published guidelines designed to make the internet safer for women and girls - and threatened to make it "absolutely clear to the public" which platforms are not adhering to them. Ofcom says it hopes the measures will make it easier to report and act on online abuse, acknowledging that those processes are currently "soul destroying." However, they are recommendations rather than legal requirements, with the regulator hoping the threat of platforms being outed for not complying with them will compel them to act. Critics say it and the government need to go further if they want to make the online world safer.
"Until we have legally enforced mandatory code of practice, we don't think we'll really see a shift in tech platforms taking this issue seriously enough," said Andrea Simon, executive director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition. Influencer and women's sport advocate Demi Brown told the BBC she had been forced to "become resilient" in response to negative comments about her weight and appearance online. She said it was wrong that she had to use the block button to remove abuse and prevent trolling on her social media accounts. "I don't think that we should be worried about the online space, it should be a place where we can authentically be ourselves," she told the BBC.
'Small steps'
Ofcom's new guidelines announced on Tuesday include asking firms to: put all account privacy settings in one place
de-monetise content containing sexual violence
allow abusive comments to be reported collectively, not one-by-one as is currently the case "It's about making reporting much easier so that you can report multiple accounts that are abusing you at the same time rather than having to do them one by one, which is absolutely soul destroying," said Ofcom boss Dame Melanie Dawes. "It's lots of small steps that together will help to keep people safer so that they can enjoy life online," she added. She insisted the threat of being called out would be a powerful one for tech firms. "I think that the transparency that we're going to bring to this will be a very strong incentive," she said. What is the Online Safety Act? UK Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said tech firms "have the ability and the technical tools to block and delete online misogyny". The guidance complements previous codes, rules and guidelines issued by the watchdog as it enforces the Online Safety Act, which became law in 2023.
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