Nicky Morgan urged the government to tackle violence against women and girls.
A House of Lords peer says that tech firms must no longer profit from misogynist influencers like Andrew Tate.
Nicky Morgan urged the government to use the Online Safety Bill as an opportunity to show that tackling violence against women and girls remains a priority.
She was one of the peers who put forward the amendment to the legislation requiring social media platforms to follow regulatory guidelines protecting women and girls from online abuse.
The proposed change would see communications watchdog Ofcom issue a code of practice to prevent harm to females. Platforms that fail to enforce it could face huge fines and bosses could be jailed.
Writing in The New Statesman, Mrs Morgan said: “It seems that hardly a day goes by without violence against women appearing in the news in some form or another. Whether it’s revelations about policing, the popularity of misogynistic influencers like Andrew Tate, or male violence against women in public spaces.
“The Online Safety Bill has the potential to be world-leading legislation, ensuring that for the first time, the tech companies that currently profit from the engagement that the likes of Tate can bring, will be held accountable if they don’t take proper steps to tackle illegality on their platforms.”
Former kickboxer Tate, who has millions of followers online, was arrested in Romania in December on suspicion of human trafficking and rape. He denies the charges.
Mrs Morgan, a former Education Secretary and Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, pointed out that women and girls are 27 times more likely to face harassment and abuse online than men. Additionally, she said, they face an “onslaught of deeply gendered abuse” in the form of revenge porn, rape threats and cyber-stalking.
She said simply telling females to “come offline” was impractical these days due to our immersion with technology and that this is similar to telling women and girls to avoid walking home alone at night.
Mrs Morgan revealed that she had to endure online abuse after she spoke out to express her support for a code of practice that addresses violence against women and children.
She added: “I urge the government to use this opportunity to show that tackling VAWG [violence against women and girls] remains a priority – so that whether we’re online, in public life or in our homes, women and girls are safe.”
The Online Safety Bill is currently progressing through Parliament and could become law this summer.
