Online regulator Ofcom has urged Big Tech giants to go “above and beyond” the requirements of the Online Safety Act in taking action against so-called “misogyny influencers.”
The regulator defines online misogyny as “content that actively encourages or cements misogynistic ideas or behaviours, including through the normalisation of sexual violence.”
Ofcom said, “Misogynistic speech is often not illegal, but, at scale, it can normalise harmful beliefs in men and boys and impact women and girls’ experience both online and offline.”
The regulator’s wide-ranging report called for the online world to be made “safer” for women and girls, highlighting issues including “nudifying” apps, which can generate “deep fake” pornographic and naked images and are usually used to target females.
MPs Examine ‘Harmful Algorithms’
At a hearing in Parliament this week, MPs mentioned influencer Andrew Tate in a session with social media bosses in relation to the anti-immigration summer riots which broke out across a number of towns and cities and the role of “misinformation” and “harmful algorithms.”
Wilfredo Fernandez on behalf of Elon Musk’s X, Chris Yiu for Meta, and Ali Law of TikTok were grilled on the role their companies may have played in the riots, which were sparked by the murder of three young girls in Southport by teenager Axel Rudakubana. False information that the killer was a recently-arrived illegal immigrant was then shared online, including by high-profile accounts.
Liberal Democrat MP Liz Jarvis asked Fernandez, “Why have far right influencers like Tommy Robinson and self styled misogynists like Andrew Tate, both of whom have spread harmful content online ... been readmitted to X?”
Fernandez said that when Musk acquired X, there was an amnesty period in which accounts that had violated the previous code of conduct, but had not broken any laws, were readmitted to the platform.
Jarvis read out a number of insulting, abusive, and expletive-ridden posts that she and others had received on X, and suggested that some of what the social media giants allow because it is offensive rather than unlawful ought to be considered “hate speech.”
She said that “heavily shared, leaked internal guidance” from X suggests the platform will now permit statements such as “trans people aren’t real, they are mentally ill,” and suggested that this was “misinformation.”
Fernandez said in response that while some of the comments were “difficult for the affected communities to hear,” most of the feedback X had received was that free speech had been oppressed too much in recent years, and that some conversations, “whilst challenging, should have a space to be discussed now.”
Self-Styled ‘King of Toxic Masculinity’
He added that community notes were being more widely used to give context to posts, and that clear rules and “community standards” prohibit content designed to incite violence.Fernandez said that, in common with the other social media companies, X had met with Ofcom in the wake of the riots, adding that when deciding on safety measures and policies, he believed there was a “duty to have a particular regard to the importance of protecting users’ right to freedom of expression within the law.”
He added it was important to think about “the tension with freedom of expression in these moments of heated debate, and violence and hatred.”
Tate, a British-American who grew up partly in Luton, was first introduced to the UK public in the 2016 series of Big Brother, but came to sudden worldwide prominence as an influencer during the COVID-19 lockdown era.
The former world kickboxing champion, who has stated that his father was in the CIA, gained a huge following among the so-called “red-pill” community with his call for a return to more traditional gender roles, urging men to become fitter and more self-reliant.
He has said that he is “absolutely sexist and a misogynist” and his divisive and provocative comments have led to him being dubbed “the king of toxic masculinity,” prompting a number of media investigations as well as criminal ones.
Allegations that the multi-millionaire and his younger brother Tristan had been involved in sex trafficking and exploiting young women through their webcam business emerged, leading to their imprisonment in Romania.
Now in Florida having been permitted to leave Romania, the Tate brothers deny all wrongdoing across a string of civil and criminal charges related to sex abuse and money laundering in the UK, the United States, and Romania.
Tate currently has 10.7 million followers on X. While he remains banned on the other social media platforms, his content can be readily viewed as it is still shared by other users.
