'Degenerate', 'psychopath', 'you rat': Social media platforms approve hateful ads targeting female journalists

12 Dec 2023

Phumi Ramalepe

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A recent investigation by an international NGO has found social media giants including Meta and TikTok approved advertising containing hate speech against female journalists.

Chesnot/Getty Images

Global Witness, an international NGO, along with the Legal Resources Centre, a South African independent public interest law centre, deliberately placed 40 hate speech adverts targeting female journalists on popular social media platforms and all 40 were approved and published.

The two organisations - which created misogynistic hate speech adverts in English, Afrikaans, Xhosa, and Zulu - did this as part of their investigation into Facebook, TikTok, X, and YouTube's ability to detect and remove offensive ads targeting female journalists.

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