In the run-up to Germany’s national election earlier this year, Facebook grew worried enough about the harassment faced by female politicians on its platform in that country to provide them with classes and other measures to protect themselves while using Facebook.
Calling the initiative “Strong Women, Strong Politics,” Facebook offered workshops about securing accounts from hacks; time with a psychologist if the digital abuse became too severe; and simplified reporting tools to report bad content. The project began in November 2020, and by February, 63 women had gone through some part of Facebook’s anti-harassment training, while 6 women had attended psychological counseling sessions.
Lending this support “aims to minimize the risk of bad experiences with our platforms,” reads an internal Facebook report from February detailing Project Strong Women, Strong Politics. “And thus reduce the risk of having to deal with newly elected officials who have just had a really negative experience on Facebook,” lawmakers who might then be more inclined to consider tougher regulations around what happens on Facebook.
The report on these efforts to combat harassment in Germany comes from documents provided by Facebook whistle-blower Frances Haugen to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which were also provided to Congress in redacted form by her legal team. The redacted versions received by Congress were obtained by a consortium of news organizations, including Forbes, a collection of documents popularly known as the Facebook Papers.
Facebook’s report reinforces what’s become a truism about the internet: Politics brings out the worst in people, and conversations around the subject tend to attract harmful conversations, especially when they’re about women running for office. And as the 2020 document from Facebook shows, it’s a common problem the world over—even in a country run by a female leader, Chancellor Angela Merkel, for the last 16 years.
An October 2020 study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a British think tank that studies digital hate speech, puts this into sharp relief. It found that female politicians received 12% more abuse on Facebook than their male counterparts. Liberals got it the worst. Female Democratic politicians received ten times as much abuse as men did. But women in the GOP faced negativity, too: about twice as much as their male peers. Over a ten-day span in summer 2020, the think tank’s researchers tagged 146,140 abusive comments directed toward House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi. No one got hated on more than Pelosi, and she had received three times as many toxic comments as the man who faced the heaviest onslaught: Republican Sen. Tim Scott (42,060 comments).
Politicians have called out Facebook for letting the abuse go on. In August 2020, Pelosi and 29 other female U.S. politicians sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and published it publicly. “Unfortunately, women in politics face pervasive sexism, hate, harassment and threats of violence on your platform that make it more difficult for them to succeed in public life,” the letter reads. “We are imploring Facebook to do more to protect the ability of women to engage in democratic discourse and to foster a safe and empowering space for women.” Pelosi sent the letter after Facebook refused to take down a deep-fake video of her that was doctored to make her appear intoxicated.
Politicians talked about the problem, and there was widespread concern about it on the internet. Facebook didn’t like to acknowledge it publicly, though. (In a response to Pelosi’s letter, a company spokesperson said the company would “continue working with [the female politicians] to surface new solutions” for the concerns they highlighted.) As with much of the Facebook Papers, the company’s work on the harassment faced by German female politicians shows that it did understand the breadth of the problems facing women in office. (Facebook didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.)
For instance, Facebook already had data showing the need for its “Strong Women, Strong Politics” project in Germany. A month before the project started in November 2020, company research examined 195 comments made on Facebook pages belonging to female German politicians, according to a second newly released document among the Facebook Papers. That study’s rather understated conclusion? “The results were not spectacular.” In other words, female politicians had indeed drawn a great deal of hate: In those 195 comments, Facebook researchers concluded nearly 30% of them were abusive or harmful. Many of the toxic commentators had flocked to far-right Bundestag member Alice Wiedel, using her Facebook account as a nesting ground, where they exchanged ideas and views—while a main focus of attack came against Sevim Dagdelen, a liberal member with a Kurdish background.
“We all want our platforms to be a safe space where free expression and civic discourse coexist,” the report reads. “However, far too often, public figures, especially female public figures, often face unwanted harassment leading to uncivil fights.”
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
