EXCLUSIVE : New Report Reveals Black Women+ Are More At Risk To Cyberflashing

Communia, the world’s first social media platform for women and marginalised genders which prioritises wellbeing and social health, today publishes a new in depth report, ‘The exposé on women’s and marginalised genders’ social media experiences‘. The report provides important and timely insights into the epidemic of predatory and abusive behaviour on social media, the need for a safe space online, and the unmet potential for the good that social media could do. It offers both big tech and women+ the chance to be aware of the dire need for a seismic shift in how we think about, operate, and live within social media. The report thoughtfully breaks down each of the results into age, gender, and race, ensuring that any nuances of the demographic are recorded.

KEY FINDINGS

WOMEN+ ONLINE SAFETY

• The report revealed that over a third of women+ aged 16-34 feel unsafe online

• Over a third (36%) of UK public have been a victim of online abuse including mean comments, being made fun of, verbal abuse, inappropriate DMs, doxing (sharing images, videos, or private information released without consent), whilst a further 42% gen-z women+ said they experience predatory behaviour or unwanted contact.

• Less than 3 in 10 (27%) respondents said when it comes to their understanding and knowledge of what a digital footprint, they understand the meaning and fully know how it affects them, and over half (51%) do understand the meaning of digital footprint, however, they do not fully know how it affects them.

• Almost half (47%) of women+ aged 16-24 have been a victim of cyberflashing, (22%) of women+ have been cyber flashed multiple times, and 1 in 9 (11%) of those women+ have been a victim of revenge porn

WOMEN+ TURNING THEIR BACKS ON BIG TECH

• Majority (80%) of gen-z and millennials (16-34 years old) are turning their backs on mainstream social platforms due to safety concerns or toxic environments

• 3 in 10 (30%) feel failed by the tech platform’s response after reporting abuse, citing they did not get a response

• Over 3 in 5 (63%) women+ said they did report the abuse to the platform it was received on, with 25% saying that the platform made it difficult to report. Unfortunately, a quarter (24%) did not report the abuse because the platform made it too difficult.

• Respondents are almost twice as likely to say social media has negatively* impacted women’s lives than say it has positively impacted it (44% vs 23%). 

• Almost two thirds (65%) of gen-z’s said they feel like they cannot be their authentic self on mainstream socials like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter etc

• Over 3 in 5 (62%) of respondents agree that social media platforms should not censor and ban words like vulva, period and clitoris 

DISPARITY BETWEEN ONLINE ABUSE + RACE

• Almost half (45%) of WOC (women+ of colour) feel unsafe online.

• Over 9 in 10 (91%) Black respondents said it’s important* to them to have access to a safe space for women and marginalised genders online

• Black women+ (50%) are twice as likely to be a victim of cyberflashing compared to their White (26%) counterparts

• Almost 2 in 5 (38%) Black respondents said they feel most unsafe on Facebook, whereas just under a quarter (24%) of White respondents said the same.

DISPARITY BETWEEN ONLINE ABUSE + MARGINALISED GENDERS inc. non-binary and trans communities (excluding ciswomen)

• 4 in 5 (86%) of marginalised genders (excluding ciswomen) feel unsafe online due to cyberbullying, grooming, emotional abuse, sexual exploitation, unwanted messages and images of a sexual nature

• Over 2 in 5 (46%) LGBTQ+ respondents feel unsafe online, whereas just under 3 in 10 (29%) straight respondents said the same.

• Just over 3 in 5 (66%) of marginalised genders (excluding ciswomen) surveyed have been a victim of online abuse, with 3 in 10 (30%) who said yes, in the last year.

Communia Founder, Olivia DeRamus, says –

“Big tech doesn’t take the needs of women and other marginalised people seriously because they don’t see a financial benefit from doing so. As a result, however, women in the U.K. are now twice as likely to say that social media has negatively rather than positively impacted their lives, with four in five of the younger generations now willing to turn their back on these companies. This survey should encourage big tech companies, the U.K. government, and consumers themselves to take important steps to improve the digital world and make it safe from predatory behaviour, hate speech, trolling, and other forms of abuse.

Social media has the potential to radically improve our lives. But too often, negative aspects like comparison culture, algorithms that promote hate, and real-life misogyny mirrored digitally prevent women and other marginalised genders from being able to access the good that the internet has the ability to offer. How can we feel safe reaching out for help when we need it, or even expressing ourselves online, when over a third of U.K. women have reported being victims of online abuse? That statistic rises even higher for certain demographics. It should not be the case that those of us who could benefit the most from the internet in today’s imperfect society are experiencing the worst of it.

I encourage the broader tech community to emulate Communia’s safety and digital well-being strategies. Suggestions include: making it as easy as possible to report abuse, verifying users’ identities, banning those who spread hate at the first incident, and uncensoring the words women need to talk about our own experiences.  And to be clear, big tech companies’ exploitation of users’ data privacy to maximise their profits is not the type of “innovation” that we need. As a society, we need to have a serious discussion about the future of social media. Social media platforms are only successful when real people actually use them. If, as a social platform, you’re causing real harm to those people, you are not only doing them an extreme disservice, but you are also undermining the long-term future of your own business. If big tech platforms are unwilling to change their ways, then new platforms, like Communia, will lead the way towards a healthier digital world.”

Communia is the social network building a better digital world for women+, reimagining how we connect with others and ourselves. Communia was founded by Olivia DeRamus, a leader in ethical tech, an advocate for survivors of sexual assault, and a speaker on women’s well-being. Olivia created Communia in 2019 in the aftermath of her own #MeToo experience, after finding that there was no safe space for her to seek community support and advice on mainstream social media platforms. Olivia quickly came to realise that the big tech platforms were failing to provide women+ with access to the authentic connection, resources, and self expression we need to not only survive, but thrive. Since then, Olivia and the scrappy, bootstrapped Communia team (with no institutional or VC funding) have continued to innovate and challenge what it means to be a social network.

The majority of respondents (80%) in the survey said it’s important to them to have access to a safe space online for women and marginalised genders. Communia aims to meet that urgent unmet need, offering a safe space for women+ to be their unedited selves, nurture friendships, provide a healthy alternative platform for women+ to seek and provide advice on a variety of topics that are central to their lives, including sex, friendship, #MeToo, mental health, money, inner beauty, and a wide range of other topics. Communia ensures the safety of its users and promotes a supportive environment through a number of innovative strategies that include: required verification before users can communicate with others, user control over what they see, real human Care Officers to moderate feeds (no bots or hate allowed), and more. Communia also provides innovative tools to enable women+ to take their self-development to the next level, including journaling “Mood Boards,” and goal-tracking. All of these self-development tools have different elements of social enhancements, depending on the comfort level of each user. The “social” and “self” sides of the Communia app provide a full spectrum system of support for women+, with the ultimate goal of improving their “social health” globally. 

“The report on U.K. women’s and marginalised genders’ social media experiences” provides strong empirical support for the call on the larger, established big tech platforms to protect the online lives of women and marginalised genders. The report also crystallises the need for the broader tech community, and other stakeholders like the U.K. government, to ensure that they are prioritising the online safety and well-being of all users, given the real-life impact of the digital world.