Mitigating online harm for women and gender diverse people in public life

Our research has found that fear of online harassment and misogyny is quickly becoming one of the largest barriers to young people seeking to enter politics. Women and gender diverse people who currently hold political office or who are public figures describe ongoing campaigns of online harassment and hate. 

Preventing exposure to misogynistic harassment online has the potential to make a real difference in the experiences of women and gender diverse elected officials and candidates. 

GIWL has partnered with Areto Labs, who have created an AI tool that assists candidates and elected officials by automating comment moderation on their posts. Areto detects different forms of online hate and each candidate or elected official has control over what comments from the public are hidden, meaning that hate comments are removed from view for everyone who sees the post. 

GIWL has received independent funding to explore the potential of AI tools like Areto in promoting the political engagement of women and gender-diverse people, including impacts to wellbeing, perceptions of online safety, and intentions to stay in politics. The first part of this project involves collecting independent survey data with users of Areto, assessing their experiences over one year. 

If you are a woman or gender diverse elected official or political candidate and you are interested in participating in this project, you can find out more at Areto's website or get in touch with the project research lead, Dr Jacko Jackson.