Since the birth and widespread adoption of the internet, the digital world has become increasingly entwined with the physical world, affecting how we interact in society and making it difficult to distinguish our online and physical selves. For women, this has meant understanding and protecting themselves against new dangers. For technical companies, law makers and law enforcers, it means ensuring women are protected online as well as in the physical world.
In June 2022, Ofcom’s Online Nation Report found that women are more likely than men to have encountered online content relating to negative body image/excessive dieting/eating disorders, misogynistic content, and content relating to self-harm or suicide. It also found that women feel less able than men to share their opinions, have a voice and be themselves online. As a result, the report identified a need for tech firms to do more to keep women safe online.
Campaigners are hoping to see further attention given to the issue of women’s safety in the UK’s upcoming Online Safety Bill. Currently in the committee stage of the parliamentary process, the Bill aims to improve online experiences for all by placing duties on search engines and social media companies regarding content that is illegal or harmful. According to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, the Online Safety Bill also aims to safeguard freedom of expression and pluralism online, mandating platforms to proactively monitor user content. Although the platforms will not be responsible for the content itself, they will be required to create systems and processes that can reduce the likelihood of harm while protecting free speech.
There have also been calls for social media companies to change how content is curated, so that users encounter more balanced and authoritative information rather than polarised and potentially misleading content. But the line between protecting people from harmful content and ensuring the social media sphere remains a place of diverse voices and honest opinions is a tricky one to navigate, and some argue that regulation often comes at the expense of freedom of speech.
Can online safety and free speech co-exist?
Unlike in real life, where we communicate freely, the internet runs on algorithms: the information we are presented with online appears not by chance, but as the result of predictions about our online behaviour. In recent times, some have suggested that the internet has become an echo chamber for extremist views, an environment in which it is easy for people to be misinformed. For many, it’s about time the online world became less of a Wild West.
Others are uncomfortable about increasing the regulation and moderation of online content, believing that exercising more control in this area infringes the right to freedom of speech – particularly with respect to marginalised communities. Elon Musk has suggested that if his bid to take over Twitter is successful, he will reduce moderation on the platform, saying: “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”
Some commentators are concerned about Musk’s attitude to freedom of expression, and how it may negatively affect the online experiences of women across the web. They question whether Musk’s idea of free speech is genuinely universal, or whether it will tilt the balance in favour of harmful misogynists. Women often face abuse and trolling for sharing their views online, and reducing content moderation is likely to further exacerbate this. Put simply, free speech is not really free when it has negative consequences.
There are also concerns that the Online Safety Bill will not do enough to tackle the issue of gendered disinformation campaigns, which have targeted a range of women in public life from politicians to journalists. Such campaigns undermine and discredit women, threaten their safety and shut down their freedom of expression and ability to participate in political discussion online. Recent examples have included fake nude images of female politicians spreading like wildfire, and women being branded as liars in the media for speaking out against harassment.
The Online Safety Bill and its role in protecting women online
One of the fundamental issues that journalists, politicians, and campaigners are concerned about is how we define freedom of speech, and who has the authority to do so. Without a universally accepted definition, there are claims that the new Online Safety Bill is simply not clear enough about what freedom of speech means, whose freedom of speech is being protected, and what the limits of this protection are. Gender is not identified as a category of hate speech in the UK, which further complicates the issue of removing content and applying consequences to those instigating gendered attacks.
Many are concerned that the Bill will struggle to put an end to the gendered misinformation that numerous fall victim to, and will still allow women to be silenced online or physically endangered. And even if the Online Safety Bill does put restrictions on large social media companies, there are concerns that misogynist content may still surface on niche social media platforms, such as those that were used to whip up a storm prior to the US Capitol attacks in 2021.
It remains to be seen how the Bill will progress in the parliamentary process, and exactly what it will mean for freedom of expression and online safety. It will be interesting to see whether gendered misinformation will be explicitly named on the new Bill following further amendments, and whether the Bill will have an impact on freedom of speech and women’s experiences of the web. The new EU Digital Services Act may also offer clues on how to build a safer internet for all, especially if the UK wants to create an internet that is value and rights based.
The UK’s Online Safety Bill will be a world first if it becomes law, so it is vital that policymakers ensure it serves to protect all groups within the online community. If it proves successful, it may provide a blueprint for other governments to create their own internet safety laws. We will be watching closely as the Bill continues to make its way through the parliamentary process, and we will keep you informed on this developing issue.
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We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email webrequests@digitalis.com
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to webrequests@digitalis.com