Women of color running for Congress in 2024 face disproportionate attacks on X compared to other candidates, according to a new report from the nonprofit Center for Democratic Technology (CDT) and the University of Pittsburgh. It is said that they are exposed to
The report “aims to compare the levels of offensive and hate speech targeted by different groups of Congressional candidates based on race and gender, with a particular focus on people of color.” “The focus is on women.” To conduct the study, the report’s authors analyzed 800,000 tweets covering a three-month period from May 20 to August 23 of this year. That dataset represented all posts on X’s account that mentioned candidates running for Congress.
The report’s authors found that more than 20% of posts directed at black and Asian women candidates “included offensive language against the candidates.” It also found that black women were targeted more often by hate speech than other candidates.
“On average, less than 1% of all tweets mentioning a candidate contained hate speech,” the report said. “However, we found that African American female candidates were more likely to be considered for this type of position than any other candidate (4%).” That’s broadly consistent with the company’s transparency report, the first since Elon Musk took over the company, which found that rule-breaking content made up less than 1 percent of all posts on the company’s platform. It is said that
Notably, the CDT report cited hate speech that ostensibly violates Company X’s policies, as well as what the report calls “words and phrases that disparage, threaten, insult, or ridicule candidates.” It analyzes both “offensive speech” and “offensive speech.” While the latter category may not violate Company X’s rules, the report notes that the amount of suck attacks could still deter women of color from running for office. It recommends that X and other platforms take “specific measures” to counter such effects.
“This includes clear policies prohibiting attacks against someone based on race or gender, increased transparency about how the system deals with these types of attacks, and better reporting tools and accountability measures. , should include regular risk assessments with a focus on race, gender, and privacy,” and maintain mechanisms that allow independent researchers to conduct research using the data. The implications of the current situation in which women candidates of color are the targets of significant online attacks at far higher rates than other candidates are enormous in building a truly inclusive democracy. It has become a barrier. ”
