Now Reading
Twitter to Make It Easier to Report Abuse after Horrific Threats to British Journalist

Twitter to Make It Easier to Report Abuse after Horrific Threats to British Journalist

British journalist and social activist Caroline Criado-Perez recently led a successful campaign to have author Jane Austen featured on British currency—the only woman besides the queen to receive such an honor. Evidently, this was enough to send hundreds of Twitter users into a rage so intense, that they started their own campaign to harass Criado-Perez and threaten her with acts of unspeakable violence. One user even created the account handle “@rapehernow”.

After Criado-Perez went on U.K. television to respond to what was happening to her on Twitter, police arrested two of the men responsible for making threats. The abuse has led to an outcry that inspired a change.org petition that has drawn more than 86,000 signatures. Now Twitter has said that it will expand the availability of a button that allows users to report abuse on individual tweets, from just iOS apps to the Android and browser-based interfaces. Though Criado-Perez said Twitter was moving in the right direction, it still needed to do more to prevent abuse on the site. Some of her supporters have begun to call for a “day of silence” on Twitter on Aug. 4 in protest of the social media site’s lack of action to prevent threats against women …

View Comments (0)

Leave a Reply

© 2023 RELEVANT Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Scroll To Top

You’re reading our ad-supported experience

For our premium ad-free experience, including exclusive podcasts, issues and more, subscribe to

Plans start as low as $2.50/mo