VP Harris Launches Task Force To Tackle Online Harassment And Abuse

The following report is from the Associated Press:

“The internet is an essential part of life in the 21st century,” Harris said, but for many — particularly women, people of color, and people who are not heterosexual — “the internet is a place of fear.”

The task force will address several issues, including prevention of online abuse and services for people who are targeted. It is scheduled to issue recommendations for the federal government and private companies in 180 days.

All of us have a responsibility to stand together to support those who have gone through this, and also recognize they shouldn’t have to be alone fighting on this issue.

Harris said.

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Although the problem is not new, it has taken on new urgency following mass shootings in Texas and New York that were predated by misogynist and racist commentary on social media and message boards.

Harris was introduced by Sloane Stephens, a Black professional tennis player who has faced a torrent of racist abuse.

I’m a daughter, a sister, a wife. And I am more than an athlete, more than a label. Yet all of that is disregarded when people online seek to harass me and harm me. No matter whether I win or lose, someone online is mad, and they will make it known.

Stephens said.

After matches, Stephens said, she is worried to pick up her phone because “I know what will be waiting for me when I unlock it.”

The National Security Council is working with the White House Gender Policy Council on the initiative, and Attorney General Merrick Garland and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy participated in Thursday’s announcement.

Garland said the Justice Department had dedicated additional resources to issues like online stalking.

We are committed to relentlessly investigating these crimes, bringing to justice those who perpetrate them, and providing support for the survivors.

He said

Murthy said people often turn to the internet when they are lonely or looking to make connections, “yet all too often what they find instead is harassment and abuse.”

It can no longer be acceptable for a technology company to put out a product and walk away from the responsibility for how it impacts users and communities. It can no longer be OK for social media platforms to be fertile grounds for hatred.

He said.

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AUTHOR COMMENTARY

[25] How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove? [26] Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind?

Job 6:25-26

While this would obviously create more censorship online, I honestly think this is more of a media stunt than anything else, to try and sustain a ragtag group of progressive voters.

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[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).

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