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How Big Tech Unleashed a New Wave of Misogyny Against Journalists

Columbia Journalism Review · Emily Bell · last updated

Women journalists are facing rising levels of abuse.

It may be hard to believe now, but there was a time, in the early 2000s, when many felt that social media would revitalize the public sphere and herald a new age of democratic participation. Two decades later, each week seems to bring fresh evidence of how tech platforms enable, amplify, and even encourage racist and misogynistic abuse. The coordinated campaign against Jane Doe, the woman at the center of the Cornell Seven case, is only the latest example in the headlines.