Google, women in deal to tame online trolls
Google has entered into a partnership with the Kenya Women Parliamentary Association (Kewopa), to help female politicians mitigate the impacts of online trolls and cyber-bullying.
The female politicians will use Google’s free tool, Harassment Manager which allows people more vulnerable to online attacks such as journalists and women leaders, to document and manage online abuse targeted at them on social media.
Google Eastern Africa Country Director Agnes Gathaiya, said Google will collaborate with Kewopa to train women legislators and aspirants on online safety tools, thereby empowering them to combat gender-based violence.
The training, delivered through the #IamRemarkable programme, is also aimed at empowering women, to overcome social and cultural barriers.
“Google cares deeply about gender equity and diversity. Through our collaboration with Kewopa, we are able to make programmes such as #IamRemarkable and Digital Skills for Women aimed at restoring the gender gap in social and economic opportunity,” Gathaiya said during the Google/Kewopa training workshop at a Nairobi hotel.
Kewopa chairperson Gathoni Wamuchomba, welcomed the training and said, violence against women is a serious problem and women leaders disproportionately deal with online toxicity.
“Kewopa is collaborating with Google on the use of technology to empower women legislators against online violence,” said Wamuchomba.
The training, sponsored by Google uses art, culture and media, to promote positive social transformation and will be facilitated by Siasa Place; an NGO that works on creating an enabling environment for women and youth, mainstreaming them into Kenya’s body-politics.
The tool, Harassment Manager, reviews tweets based on hashtag, username, keyword or date enabling users to detect toxic and harmful comments and mute or block perpetrators of harassment and hide harassing replies to their own tweets.
— KNA
