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OCTOBER U.S. NEWSLETTER 

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CDT Research Explores 2024 Rates of Online Violence Against Women of Color Political Candidates

When running for political office in the U.S., women, and women of color in particular, face numerous challenges including online attacks that aim to undermine and prevent their participation in politics.

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Graphic for a CDT and University of Pittsburgh report, entitled "Hated More: Online Violence Targeting Women of Color Candidates in the 2024 US Election." Black text on a light grey background.

In new CDT research, we examine the prevalence of offensive speech and hate speech experienced online by women of color running ([link removed]) for the U.S. Congress in 2024 — as well as U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, as a presidential candidate — focusing on data drawn from the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). We find that:

More than one in five tweets targeted at Asian American and African American women candidates contained offensive language about the candidate.

African American women candidates are targeted with significantly more hate speech than other groups: five times more than Latinx women; four times more than Asian American women; three times more than white women; and 18 times more than white men.

The proportion of race- and gender-based hate speech targeted at women candidates differs by party affiliation.

The research is a follow-up to a study we conducted in 2022 ([link removed]), which found that women of color Congressional candidates in the 2020 U.S. election were more likely to be subjected to violent and sexist abuse, and mis- and disinformation, compared to other candidates.

In addition to our findings, we made recommendations for how to combat abuse and mis- and disinformation ([link removed]) targeted at women of color political candidates: social media companies can more directly focus on these issues, for instance by clearly articulating policies that prohibit content that harasses or abuses someone on the basis of gender or race; political parties can increase their resources around online abuse; and researchers can expand work on the issue.

In Case You Missed It

— CDT is delighted to welcome Dr. Lorrie Cranor ([link removed]), an expert in privacy, security, and public policy currently on the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University, to our Board of Directors.

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Graphic for CDT report entitled “Moderating Maghrebi Arabic Content on Social Media.” Illustration of a hand, wearing rings as well as bracelets with hand of Fatima around its wrist, holding a red and purple phone that shows messages with Arabic letters in them being moderated or acted upon.

— This week, CDT released an Arabic-language version of our report “Moderating Maghrebi Arabic Content on Social Media,” ([link removed]) which examines the challenges and implications of automated content moderation systems for content in the Maghrebi Arabic dialects in North Africa.

— CDT joined an amicus brief in support of an en banc rehearing ([link removed]) of Anderson v. TikTok, in which the Court held that Section 230 does not protect online platforms’ editorial decisions. We argued that the ruling would ultimately harm users’ free expression rights by incentivizing platforms to censor third-party speech.

— CDT and over 20 other civil society groups called on the Director of National Intelligence ([link removed]) to publish an estimate of the number of Americans affected by warrantless surveillance authorized by FISA Section 702.

— In late September, CDT celebrated the 30th anniversary of the World Wide Web Consortium ([link removed]) (W3C), noting that the organization’s history shows a promising way forward for how the global community can work intentionally to mitigate digital threats to the rights of billions of people.

CDT in the Press 

— CDT’s Isabel Linzer and Tim Harper wrote for Just Security ([link removed]) about how a rule change by Georgia’s State Election Board, which would require local election officials to hand count ballots, will provide a narrative to spread disinformation and undermine trust in U.S. elections.

— CDT’s Kevin Bankston joined the Accountable AI podcast to discuss the benefits and risks of open-weight frontier AI models ([link removed]).

— CDT’s Dhanaraj Thakur discussed misinformation in the 2024 hurricane season with The Hill ([link removed]): “When you have tremendous, huge natural disasters, like these hurricanes, you already have a lot of chaos, uncertainty, fear on the ground, and this mis-information just amplifies that,” he said. “That undermines any coordination, and communication around disaster recovery.”

— CDT’s Greg Nojeim talked with the Los Angeles Times about automated license plate readers ([link removed]): “When it comes to license plate readers and privacy, a consumer’s best option to retain their privacy is to ride a bike. … I say that because all vehicles that are required to have license plates are subject to the new surveillance system.”

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Graphic for CDT's Tech Prom on November 14, 2024 at The Anthem in Washington, D.C. Big block letters (blue and purple) being showered in confetti.

CDT "in Person"

— Join CDT for our annual Tech Prom! Come and celebrate another standout year of tech policy and civil rights on November 14, 2024. Learn more about Tech Prom, including sponsorship and ticket options, on our event page ([link removed]).

—  Have you listened to the latest episodes of CDT’s podcast, Tech Talk? Join host Jamal Magby for a conversation about the challenges and opportunities in making AI more equitable for all ([link removed]) with CDT CEO Alexandra Givens and the Emerson Collective’s Raffi Krikorian (who produces his own excellent podcast ([link removed]), Technically Optimistic!).

Graphic for CDT’s podcast, entitled “CDT’s Tech Talks.” Hosted by Jamal Magby, and available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and TuneIn. Dark grey text and app logos, as well as light blue text, on a white background.

In another recent episode, Jamal explores the privacy implications of AI companions ([link removed]) with Jen Caltrider, Mozilla’s *Privacy Not Included Program Director, and Michal Luria, CDT’s own Research Fellow.

— Planning on being at FWD50 ([link removed])? Join Elizabeth Laird, Director of CDT’s Equity in Civic Technology Project, on November 4 as she breaks down the U.S.’s recent legislative and regulatory developments on government AI procurement, gives recommendations for best practices, and shares our new research on how governments decide whether AI is even necessary to solve a problem in the first place.

— Attending Web Summit 2024 ([link removed])? CDT’s CEO Alexandra Givens will be there talking about shaping human-centered tech policy for the future, the impact of the U.S. elections for tech, and more.

Partner Spotlight

CDT is proud to partner with the Ford Institute for Human Security at the University of Pittsburgh on our research project examining hate speech and offensive speech that targeted women of color political candidates running for Congress in this November's elections. The Ford Institute places lives, freedoms and capabilities at the center of sustainable development and security; you can learn more about the Institute's current research on their website ([link removed]).

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Photo of Chinmay Deshpande, smiling wearing a dark suit jacket and red, white and blue striped tie.

Staff Spotlight
Chinmay Deshpande ([link removed]), AI Governance Fellow

How long have you been working in digital rights? I've been doing work at the intersection of tech and civil rights for a few years — my previous research has focused on several of the many risks AI poses, ranging from its impacts on digital artists to its effects on the information ecosystem. I'm incredibly excited to be continuing this work at CDT's AI Governance Lab — I'm really grateful for the opportunity to learn from colleagues with such deep expertise in the area, and from whom I've already learned so much since joining CDT a few months ago.

What is your proudest moment while here at CDT? Helping draft CDT's response to a request for information from NIST! That process was a great opportunity to translate takeaways for an audience I haven't had the chance to engage as much with previously.

What is the best book you've read recently? I recently read Benjamín Labatut's The Maniac, a part-fiction, part-nonfiction retelling of the life of the early computer scientist John von Neumann, and I found it to be a really stark reminder of how important — and difficult — it is for the inventors of new technologies to grapple seriously with how their creations will impact society. I also read Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway for the first time a few months ago, and that book had some of the most simply beautiful pages of writing I've ever encountered.

Cats or dogs? Cats, for sure.

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