Indirect Swarming: the changing face of online harassment and its threat to democracy

Networked harassment, orchestrated by a multitude of users spurred on by influential amplifier accounts, has emerged as a pervasive tactic for silencing individuals online. Particularly vulnerable are women in public roles such as journalists, politicians, and activists, who endure incessant hate speech, threats, and defamation. Giulia Campaioli, Sara Di Bartolomeo, Dr. Stephen C. Rea, Dr. Eirliani Abdul Rahman analyzed two datasets of 120,000 Twitter posts using a mixed-method approach and identified two forms of networked harassment: sustained harassment and indirect swarming. Sustained harassment entails enduring online attacks, while indirect swarming involves a rapid surge in posts and engagement, often instigated by influential amplifier accounts. Their research highlights the pivotal role of amplifiers in driving these attacks. They propose actionable insights for policymakers and advocate for platform moderation strategies to swiftly counteract such harmful behaviors.

Speakers:

Giulia Campaioli is a MSCA-Cofund PhD student in Anthropology and Communication at Rovira i Virgili University, Spain, mapping civil society responses to online gender-based violence between Brazil, Spain, and Italy.

Sara Di Bartolomeo is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Konstanz, Germany working on graph layout algorithms for graph drawing and data visualization.

Dr. Stephen C. Rea is a Senior Researcher with the Critical Internet Studies Institute where he researches networked incitement among election vigilantes.

A recent graduate from Harvard University, Dr. Eirliani Abdul Rahman was one of the three women who resigned from Twitter’s T&S Council in December 2022 to protest against the meteoric rise in hate speech after Musk’s purchase.

This event is hosted by AC Digi, an online community exploring digital and remote anthropology. Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12884026/