Responding to tweets by Kamala Harris (the nation’s highest ranking Black female officer), often includes racist, sexist, and graphic messages that threaten her safety. New research shows that Harris is the victim of hateful tweets. Twitter, however, has not responded to these messages quickly and sometimes failed to act.
Bot Sentinel is a non-partisan research group that fights disinformation and targeted harassment online. Harris was the target of more than 4,200 tweets in the first five months. These included death threats, graphic images manipulations, and the use of the “n-word”.
Christopher Bouzy, founder of Bot Sentinel said that all of the tweets in question violated their policy and rules. He also made the information available to CBS News. It shows photos of her performing lewd acts of sex, such as manipulated photos. It’s obvious, it was. But it was found that it did not breach their policies.
Twitter spokesperson told CBS News that the initial assessment of tweets sent to them by the platform was inaccurate and that mistakes were made in applying the platform’s content moderation rules.
Bouzy stated that his team started the research project following a group of Black women who complained to Bot Sentinel about the inattention shown by Twitter to their many reports of abusive tweets directed against the vice president.
Bouzy stated that they were receiving the same messages as us, and that these tweets did not violate their policies. Bouzy said he was also shocked by Twitter’s initial reaction to his reports of racist and threatening tweets.
Bot Sentinel, which uses Twitter engagement rules to guide its research, published a set 40 tweets last Wednesday. Twitter removed two of the abusive tweets, but then ignored 18 others. According to Bot Sentinel, the 20 remaining abusive tweets, including one that threatened Harris with death, didn’t violate the platform’s policies.
Bouzy stated that Twitter had suspended 10 accounts and taken down all 40 tweets days after the initial report. Twitter spokesperson stated that 10 of the tweets mentioned in the report were removed by Twitter after Bot Sentinel reported them. However, the platform did not find any violation of engagement rules.
Twitter reviewed the tweets and determined that they needed to be deleted.
Twitter’s rules for engagement prevent users from using repeated racial slurs to target others. These slurs are intended to promote and dehumanize negative stereotypes. Twitter prohibits users from posting content that expresses or wishes for the death another user.
If the platform determines that their primary intention is to hateful conduct, they can ask for account deletions or suspend accounts. Twitter may also lower rank tweets in replies, making them ineligible to be amplified in search results. This is done to reduce the risk of real world harm and limit the visibility of tweets on Twitter.
Twitter stated that it aims to remove inappropriate tweets as quickly as possible before users report them, but admitted mistakes can happen when its content moderation team is working on a large-scale.
Bot Sentinel published Monday’s second part of its report. It included screenshots and links that lead to over 1,300 tweets with similar content to the 40 posted last week.
Research shows that Harris was the target of racist tweets. This is a sign of white supremacy in American society and politics. An 18-year old drove more than 200 miles to kill 10 Black shoppers and injure three others at a Buffalo supermarket. According to police, the suspect in the shooting was motivated by racial reasons and targeted the area due to its high Black population. He wanted as many Black people as possible.
Many Republican candidates for office in 2022 are trying to win support by warning voters about the “great replacement theorem,” a racist talk point that falsely suggests minorities are conspiring with Democrats to reduce the role of White Americans in America.
Twitter has documented online harassment of women across all political spectrums. Twitter users often target journalists, politicians and media organizations by hurling vitriol behind a screen.
Amnesty International reports that women of color are three-times more likely to be mentioned on abusive or problematic Twitter messages. A 2018 study found that black women were 84% more likely to be mentioned in hateful Tweets than white women.
Bouzy stated that former Vice President Mike Pence was routinely attacked on Twitter by critics, but not the same. Bot Sentinel, he said, has been reviewing tweets directed to Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene or Lauren Boebert. These two representatives from the far right are often the centre of controversy.
Bouzy stated that they wanted to compare it and that Harris faces attacks too. He said that Harris’s experience is different because of the sexist language used and the use of racist comments directed at him “is on another stage.”
The office of the vice president declined to comment.
The hateful and threatening tweets directed at Harris could be a glimpse of the future of Twitter under Elon Musk’s leadership. Social media experts and human rights advocates warn that Musk’s bid to purchase Twitter for $44 billion and his promise to restore freedom of speech – so users can speak what they like – could lead to the proliferation of racist and sexist content on the platform.
It is not clear if Harris’ problematic tweets are part of an organized campaign. Also, it isn’t clear if they came from real accounts or fake bot accounts. Musk has raised doubts about this. Many of these accounts are real people with hundreds or even thousands of followers.
Tamer Hassan is the co-founder of HUMAN and the CEO of HUMAN. HUMAN tracks bot activity.
Hassan stated that the evolution of bot activity has been in the direction of one being human-like over the past 10 years. They are often seen in the social media environment used for amplification.
Hassan stated that organizing hateful content directed towards Harris is easy and inexpensive, and anyone can do it.
Hassan stated, “We are rapidly moving into a world in which bots are part of our culture as well as a part our interactions.”
He said that bots were a major threat to modern security and that there was very little policy or practice regarding their use.
This report was contributed by Tim Perry