Technology Secretary Liz Kendall has handed digital platforms a deadline to implement serious measures to reduce online misogyny in a new open letter.
The current Labour government has made tackling violence against women and girls a cornerstone element of its plan, with a flagship manifesto policy being to halve offences of this kind in a decade.
As part of this pledge, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has been tasked with coordinating strong efforts to prevent the use of technology to carry out acts of misogyny.
This has included the criminalisation of sexually explicit deepfakes and AI nudification tools as well urging regulators and online platforms to implement robust safety measures via the Online Safety Act and the Crime and Policing Bill.
Addressing online tech platforms, Kendall wrote: “Your platforms play a key part here. So, I am calling on you to step up to this challenge and help us make the digital world a place where everyone can participate safely and confidently.”
Kendall described how, following the publication of Ofcom’s guidance, A Safer Life Online for Women and Girls, tech firms must now take seriously the task of meeting acceptable safety requirements.
“We urgently need to deal with the gender-based online harms Ofcom’s guidance identifies, including misogynistic abuse and sexual violence; pile-ons and coordinated harassment; stalking and coercive control; and image-based sexual abuse,” Kendall wrote.
“I know you do not want this kind of content on your sites. Ofcom’s guidance sets out steps you can take now to make your platforms safer for all users.”
Among the steps laid out by Ofcom were conducting regular risk assessments, conducting ‘abusability’ evaluations before launching new features and setting string customisable settings around user interaction.
Beyond that, platforms have been urged by DSIT and Ofcom to demonetise content that promotes misogynistic abuse and reduce the algorithmic prominence of sexist content.
“I expect all platforms to implement Ofcom’s guidance by the end of this year at the latest,” she said.
