New bill calls for increased protection for women online

Jade Woods

reopen the playground, but three days later spotted “about a dozen kids playing football outside the area”. Soon after, Mr Kane returned with pliers and a hacksaw to take matters into his own hands.

Northumbria Police were called to a possible vandalism, but shortly realised that no criminal activity had taken place.

Mr Kane said, "While I was sawing away I spotted a police car - with blue lights flashing - circle the area before two officers inside it came over to have a word. Luckily I had my councillor pass and they didn't take any further action."

Following this incident, Mr Kane reiterated the importance of these play areas for children in the Shieldfield area, saying that they “give the local kids the opportunity of having something healthy to do and they shouldn’t be excluded from what is their own space.”

An amendment to an online safety bill has been put forward to protect women and girls impacted by online abuse

Under the new rules proposed by British peers to the Online Safety Bill, social media platforms would be required to follow guidelines which protects women and girls from online abuse. In 2021, online abuse and violence against women and girls experts launched a campaign urging the government to include women and girls in new online safety law. Whilst the online safety bill gives media companies a duty of care to their users, the bill fails to protect women and girls who are disproportionately affected by online abuse.

Studies show that women are 27 times more likely than men to be harassed online

Studies show that women are 27 times more likely than men to be harassed online, 1 in 5 women experience online harassment or abuse, and Black women are 84% more likely to receive abusive tweets than white women. Furthermore, online abuse against women went up by 46% during the pandemic, and it was even higher for Black women and nonbinary people at 50%.

The amendment to the bill has been put forward this week in the House of Lords by Baroness Nicky Morgan who believes “the intention is to get the platforms to think about how to keep female users safe. They are not thinking about the safety of female users at the moment.”

The proposed change would require Ofcom to issue a code of practice on preventing online violence against women that social media platforms would have to follow.

Under the amendments, legalisation would require social media platforms and tech companies to tackle illegal content such as revenge pornography and behaviours such as cyberstalking. It also contains provisions that would require the biggest platforms to give users the option of opting out from misogynistic content. If a platform’s terms of service ban misogynistic abuse, then they will be expected to enforce those conditions or face action from Ofcom. Breaches of terms will carry a potential fine of 10% of the companies global turnover.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology spokesperson said:

In a tweet about the issue, with a photo of the make shift lock, Mr Kane said:

"Well, this escalated. I got fed up and went and sawed through the chain (with a bit of help from a passerby) and “somebody” called the police on us. Police turned up with blue lights flashing as they had been told that someone was breaking into a building."

“We are committed to tackling online abuse and violence against women and girls. In the Online Safety Bill, we have made it a priority for platforms to proactively tackle the most harmful illegal content which disproportionately targets women and girls. Women will also benefit from new tools that give them greater control over what they see on social media, including content that is abusive or incites hatred on the basis of sex.”

65% of Newcastle students support the UCU strikes

Ella Winskell - News sub-editor

The Tab Online student paper conducted a survey on student support of UCU strikes, finding that only 64.6% of Newcastle University students support lectures in their pursuit for fairer wages and pension protections compared to a 70% average across all surveyed institutions.

Newcastle finds itself 16th out of 23 of Universities, with more than 100 responses to the poll, trailing behind the likes of King’s College London with a reported support rate of 74.7%, Cambridge, with a rate of 80.3%, and at the top with the highest reported rates of support for lecture strikes Glasgow University where just over 16% of students said they didn’t support the industrial action compared to some 83.6% who did.

While Newcastle may seem low in comparison to other responding

Universities a YouGov poll taken in January that surveyed some 2,000 people found that only a paltry 36% of the general public were in support of the university strikes.

Newcastle finds itself 16th out of 23 of universities

In response to these findings Jo Grady, the UCU general secretary, told the Tab “Students back their staff taking action because they see day in day out the way that it treats those who do the work inside our universities,” Singling out the Vice-chancellors that hold “£40bn in reserves,” Grady says university leadership would rather “hoard,” this money then use “a fraction of it,” it to settle the disputes; adding “everyday of teaching students lose is completely the fault of vice-chancellors who refuse to invest in staff and refuse to invest in students".