LONDON: Meta Platforms’ Instagram failed to remove abusive comments aimed at female politicians who are potential candidates for the 2024 US elections, according to a report by the non-profit Center for Countering Digital Hate on Wednesday.
The report analyzed over half a million comments on Instagram posts by five Democratic and five Republican women politicians, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris, Senator Marsha Blackburn and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.
CCDH flagged over 20,000 comments as “toxic,” with 1,000 of these comments containing sexist and racist abuse, as well as death and rape threats. Instagram left up 93 percent of the harmful comments even after breaching the platform’s standards.
In response to the report, Meta said it has tools in place for users to control comments on their posts, including filtering out offensive comments, phrases or emojis.
“We will review the CCDH report and take action on any content that violates our policies,” said Cindy Southworth, head of women’s safety at Meta.
In its analysis of the 2020 US election, the CCDH report found that women of color were more likely to be targets of sexist and racist abuse.
The rise of online abuse against women politicians has drawn criticism from advocacy groups.
It also highlighted how social media algorithms that prioritize emotional content and engagement can inadvertently amplify this abuse, a feature that politicians often leverage to boost their engagement rates.
This underscores the role social media platforms and their algorithms play in the propagation of online abuse, a problem that extends beyond the political sphere and affects millions of users worldwide.
The report urged social media platforms to enforce their safety guidelines more effectively and take decisive action against targeted online abuse.
Meta’s Instagram failed to curtail hate speech against women politicians, report says
https://arab.news/wxxr8
Meta’s Instagram failed to curtail hate speech against women politicians, report says
- Center for Countering Digital Hate said Instagram left up 93 percent of the harmful comments directed at US women politicians
Paris exhibition marks 200 years of Le Figaro and the enduring power of the press
- The exhibition celebrated the bicentennial of Le Figaro, offering visitors a rare opportunity to step inside the newspaper’s vast historical archive
PARIS: One of France’s most influential newspapers marked a major milestone this month with a landmark exhibition beneath the soaring glass nave of the Grand Palais, tracing two centuries of journalism, literature and political debate.
Titled 1826–2026: 200 years of freedom, the exhibition celebrated the bicentennial of Le Figaro, offering visitors a rare opportunity to step inside the newspaper’s vast historical archive. Held over three days in mid-January, the free exhibition drew large crowds eager to explore how the title has both chronicled and shaped modern French history.
More than 300 original items were displayed, including historic front pages, photographs, illustrations and handwritten manuscripts. Together, they charted Le Figaro’s evolution from a 19th-century satirical publication into a leading national daily, reflecting eras of revolution, war, cultural change and technological disruption.
The exhibition unfolded across a series of thematic spaces, guiding visitors through defining moments in the paper’s past — from its literary golden age to its role in political debate and its transition into the digital era. Particular attention was paid to the newspaper’s long association with prominent writers and intellectuals, underscoring the close relationship between journalism and cultural life in France.
Beyond the displays, the program extended into live journalism. Public editorial meetings, panel discussions and film screenings invited audiences to engage directly with editors, writers and media figures, turning the exhibition into a forum for debate about the future of the press and freedom of expression.
Hosted at the Grand Palais, the setting itself reinforced the exhibition’s ambition: to place journalism firmly within the country’s cultural heritage. While the exhibition has now concluded, the bicentennial celebrations continue through special publications and broadcasts, reaffirming Le Figaro’s place in France’s public life — and the enduring relevance of a free and questioning press in an age of rapid change.
