(The hill) – Supporters fear the rise in online misogyny will leave more women unwilling to run, a concern highlighted by a video posted by the representative. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., Showing him kill Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y.

Although Gosar’s video, which used an edited clip from the animated show “Attack on Titan,” was aimed at a member of Congress, critics warn that amplification of such content via mainstream social media may deter women from participating in politics at all levels.

“There is an impact of silence,” said Bridget Todd, communications director for feminist group UltraViolet. “I think it really reverberates where everyone – whether you’re a public figure or just someone who wants to get involved with your child’s school board in your town – I think everyone can see the how these platforms have tolerated this abuse, how they treat it like it’s no big deal.

“And why would anyone want to speak up and be a full player in their democracy when that is the case?” Todd added.

representing Jackie Speier, D-Calif., Who introduced a resolution with 60 fellow Democrats to censor Gosar, said content like Gosar’s video “definitely” deters women from running for office.

“This idea of ​​violence against women, of disinformation on gender, pushes women back from speaking out, so they have silenced women, or they have the effect of discouraging support for these women, members or candidates. “Speier told The Hill.

“There’s a huge amount of misogyny here that is coupled with a social media platform, a number of them, that helps come together and build fervor around their hatred for women of people sharing the same ideas, ”she added.

Gosar’s account tweeted the video on November 15. Twitter did not delete the post, but tagged it to note that even though it violated the platform’s policies, the company had determined that maintaining the post was “in the public interest.”

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has taken similar steps putting the video behind a “warning screen” and removing it from places where platforms recommend content – but ultimately leaving it.

Gosar himself eventually removed the video after a violent backlash.

In a lengthy statement, Gosar said he “does not espouse violence or evil towards any member of Congress” and that the video “portrays the fight taking place on the floor of the House and symbolizes the battle for it. ‘soul of America’ on immigration policies among Democrats. “Spending package.

“Unfortunately, I wasn’t too surprised that a number of companies haven’t taken any meaningful action on this content,” said Chloe Colliver, head of digital policy and strategy at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD). “Women tend to be low on the list of corporate policy enforcement and decision-making resources for a long time, even when exposed to the public. “

ISD released a report last year that found female congressional candidates more likely than their male counterparts to experience abuse on Twitter and Facebook, with the exception of the Senate Minority Leader. Mitch mcconnell, R-Ky., Who also received high levels of messages classified as abusive.

Women from ethnic minorities were particularly likely to be victims of online abuse, with Ocasio-Cortez receiving the highest proportion of abusive comments on Facebook, according to the report.

“Social media allows these more prevalent abuses in this format, for people who otherwise might not take the time to write a letter, or make a call, and it also often allows them more anonymity than the other points,” said Kelly Dittmar, research director at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

For women in particular, these abuses tend to be more sexualized and violent.

The ISD report found that abuses targeting women were more likely to be gender-related than those targeting men. Violence against women was based on their physical appearance or their “perceived lack of competence,” while violence against men was more likely to attack political positions, according to the report.

“When we talk to women and talk about encouraging them to run for office, part of the pause that women have when they think about running for office and being valued and in which I can get things done? “,” Said Dittmar.

“Like any candidate and officeholder, there is a cost-benefit analysis, but for women, in particular, this is under the potential cost,” she added.

On the flip side, there is also a chance that videos like Gosar’s will have the opposite reaction and motivate women to take political action to “get men like Gosar to step down,” Dittmar said.

Sexist attacks against women in politics exist in all parties.

Republican candidates and elected officials are under much more scrutiny than their male counterparts – especially on aspects other than their political views such as their appearance, parenting skills and relationships, a Republican consultant who has worked with several told The Hill. candidates.

Critics across the board say social media platforms must take action to combat greater misogyny through the enforcement of existing policies and clear up ambiguous terms for better hate speech and address violence against women.

The platforms need to clarify the formulation of policies to ensure extremist behavior or harassment directed against women or transgender people are ‘clearly understood’, and they need to put more resources into understanding the issues to detect and to act on them, says Colliver.

UltraViolet released a report last week, produced with ISD, which detailed the ways in which the group discovered that social media platforms are failing in tackling misogyny. Twitter received a C-minus, Facebook a D-minus and Instagram an F.

Cindy Southworth, head of women’s safety for Meta, said the report “ignores all the work we do to protect people on our platform from various forms of abuse,” touting the company’s technology for detect hate speech and the tools for users to report abuse. comments and reviews.

A Twitter spokesperson in a statement in response to the report said the company is committed to ensuring Twitter does not “become a forum that facilitates abuse” and “will continue to examine our own policy approaches and the means we can apply. our rules at speed and scale ”.

But even under their existing policies, platforms “hide behind” different application criteria for content posted by public figures, Todd said.

Twitter’s policies state that it may apply a “public interest notice” because of “the important public interest in knowing and being able to discuss their actions and statements.” For tagged content, like the Gosar video, Twitter limits engagement by not allowing users to like, reply, or retweet without additional context.

The position of the account holder should not impact the app, critics say.

“He’s still violating their terms of service, whether he’s a public figure or not, he shouldn’t be in place,” Speier said.

“We cannot have a healthy, fully functioning democracy unless everyone can fully participate in the online discourse. And now because of these platforms, that just isn’t the case, ”Todd said.

“I think these platforms really have to decide whether they are going to support stalkers, abusers and misogynists – or women,” she added.