Friday, November 24, 2017

#GlitchUK - Online violence & hate speech against women and girls

/ WHO WE ARE
Founded by Cllr Seyi Akiwowo, we are a organisation working to reduce online violence against women and girls (OVAWG) and online hate speech through advocacy, campaigning and training workshops.
// WHAT WE BELIEVE
When we look back on this period of time, we want to be able to say that the rise in OVAWG and online hate speech was only a “glitch” in our history. Glitch! believes that online violence of all forms is a vehicle for movements that aim to divide society and spread fear. OVAWG is a weapon used to silence women online, particularly women with an opinion, influential women and women in public office.  Online abuse takes many forms and we have seen a particular increase in OVAWG and online hate speech. We believe this has been a consequence of, and enabled by, a number of events:
  • Rise of far right movements across Europe
  • Rhetoric used during the UK EU Independence referendum and the 2016 US Presidential Election
  • Social media companies are not adequately nor consistently following enforcing rules to ensure safety of all users.
  • Underreporting of incidents to the police and robust commitment from the criminal justice system to prosecute
We believe the increase in OVAWG and online hate speech is a temporary malfunction that can be fixed. There are three important stands to our work…
1- Lobby social media companies to do more to adequately and consistently address online violence and online hate speech on their platforms.
2- Campaign to raising awareness of specific forms of online abuse and it’s impact and with partners.
3- Deliver workshops to helps cultivate the agency of users particularly young people and start conversations on how to be responsible online citizens.
// WHAT WE DO
Mobilising and working in partnership with other organisations, activists and survivors to amplify our voices, increase our impact and avoid duplication.
Lobbying decision and policy-makers to put pressure on social media companies to better self-regulate and to update UK laws.
Sign posting and providing information on rights, social media rules and how to report abuse.
Delivering interactive and informative training workshops in schools and to onlinetech developers.
// HOW YOU CAN HELP
There’s a lot of discussions and movement on online abuse given recent events so the time to make sustainable and inclusive impact is now Would you like to be a Glitch! UK Supporter? We have five ways you can become one:
  1. HELP SPREAD THE WORD ONLINE
We want to build an inclusive movement to end online violence against women and girls, online hate speech and repair this glitch. Follow us online and share Glitch!UK with your Facebook friends and your Twitter followers.
You can also sign and share a pledge on social media and encourage at least three of your friends to do the same:
You can also share these statements on social media encourage at least three of your friends to the same:
“In decades from now when we look back on this period of time, I want to be able to say that the rise in online violence against women and online hate speech was only a “glitch” in our history. #GlitchUK”
“Online violence against women and girls and online hate speech is a glitch in our online world and social media companies can and must fix it #GlitchUK”
  1. CONNECT US TO SCHOOLS + YOUTH GROUPS
We’re now heading to where it matters most, with education and young people. We cannot afford for our generation and the next to become desensitised to online violence and online hate speech.
We delivering a number of pilot workshops to supplement citizenship, PHSRE and Humanity lessons as well as school assemblies. We will officially launch our “Glitch! Training Programme” in 2018 but in the meantime we want to work with as many young people, schools and youth groups as possible.  We are also looking to work with after school youth groups and young leader groups such as Youth Councillors and Young Advisors.
  1. PARTNER WITH Glitch!UK
Our mission to fix this current glitch in our online world can only be achieved through collaboration and partnership. We do not what reinvent the wheel nor duplicate work. Over the last nine months we have developed an inclusive movement to both raise awareness of OVAWG and online hate speech and begin repairing this glitch. If you’re an individual or an organisation working to make the online world safer and would like to be part of this movement, we would love to work with you.
  1. TELL US
Evidence strengthens our call for change. We would like to capture as many experiences of online abuse. You can share your experiences with us using the #GlitchUK hashtag or anonymously via our online form.
Do you also think social media companies can do more to deal with online abuse? We have written some recommendations on how social media companies can do more to address online violence. Tell us your thoughts and ideas.
  1. DONATE
If you have skills or expertise to help Glitch!UK grow we would love to hear from you!
If you like what you’ve read and would like to help keep us going for another nine months you can make a financial donation via paypal. You could make a £1 pledge and encourage at least three of your friends to do the same.
A regular donation means you can give small amounts every month that make a huge different to our work. Monthly gifts give us a predictable income so we can commit to raising the profile of our campaign.
CONTACT US!

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