The Fight against Racism online.
She has a long title, Public Policy Manager & Hate Speech Lead | Trust & Safety, Content & Public Policy at Facebook. She is leading the fight against online abuse of footballers. Her name is Farai Madzingira and she is Zimbabwean.
Yesterday she announced a raft of measures to start the fight back against keyboard abusers who hide behind anonymous accounts to dish out hate speech. She stressed that stringent rules will be put in place to stop the registering of fake or ghost accounts which are then used to churn out the abuse.
It seems however that her work is cut out because she refused to endorse the one measure which can help stop the ghost accounts. The No ID No Account policy which many activists are agitating for.
Her response to this was revealing , “We cannot disadvantage those who do not have IDs but genuinely want to engage on the platforms..” she said.
Well, it seems Facebook are in a catch 22 situation trying to balance the need for more people to join while making sure that accounts are not used for abuse. If the only sure way to stop abuse is to demand an ID, then they should implement that otherwise the accusation that they are enabling the abuse will not go away.
I however agree with her when she said that online platforms like Facebook and Instagram cannot fight the battle alone.
“Racism is a societal problem, it will be narcissistic for online platforms to think that they can be the solution to the problem, the problem emanates from the society. The conversation should start in the society.” said Fadzai.
I am in agreement.
Kyle Bartley, the West Brom Albion midfielder also agreed. In an interview with Sky Sports, he said, ” It is a societal issue, I came off Facebook and Instagram ten years ago after suffering abuse. Nothing much has changed. I would advice players to avoid social media…! ”
“The fight against Racism is all talk, I do not see enough powerful people sticking out their necks and saying this must stop, in work places they do not make the effort to change especially at boardroom level. They need to do more ” he added.
It is true, racism is rooted in the society and the hate exhibited online is only a reflection of what goes on offline. Racism should be tackled at societal level not just on Social media. Appointing more black and ethnic minority football managers at top clubs can help to bring about that change.
With such a long title, the responsibilities are huge. I hope Fadzai Madzingira can help to win this war against online abuse.
