How Instagram is failing women and public officials

Content warning: Racism, Violence, Sexual Assault. 

From the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH)

New research by the CCDH shows that Instagram failed to act on 93% of the abusive comments targeting high-profile US women politicians we reported, including death and rape threats.

Meta’s Instagram is becoming a weapon in this assault, failing to step up to make its platform safer as the US election approaches.

CCDH reported 1,000 abusive comments targeting women politicians running for office in 2024 including:

• Democrat: VP Kamala Harris, Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jasmine Crockett, Nancy Pelosi and Senator Elizabeth Warren.
• Republican: Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene, Maria Elvira Salazar, Anna Paulina Luna, Lauren Boebert and Senator Marsha Blackburn.

A week later, Instagram had taken no action against 926 of these hateful comments, which contained sexist and racist abuse, and death and rape threats.