Update: Twitter is taking steps to correct its harassment problem, at least where Leslie Jones is concerned. CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted the Ghostbusters star, telling her to DM him so they could take steps to rectify the widespread and frankly disturbing abuse she received Monday. Those steps include permanently banning Breitbart Tech Editor Milo Yiannopolous for his role in leading the campaign against Jones.
The company made it clear that it wouldn't continue to tolerate this abuse moving forward. Twitter released the following statement to Buzzfeed on the ban, and their harassment issue.
"People should be able to express diverse opinions and beliefs on Twitter. But no one deserves to be subjected to targeted abuse online, and our rules prohibit inciting or engaging in the targeted abuse or harassment of others. Over the past 48 hours in particular, we’ve seen an uptick in the number of accounts violating these policies and have taken enforcement actions against these accounts, ranging from warnings that also require the deletion of Tweets violating our policies to permanent suspension.
"We know many people believe we have not done enough to curb this type of behavior on Twitter. We agree. We are continuing to invest heavily in improving our tools and enforcement systems to better allow us to identify and take faster action on abuse as it’s happening and prevent repeat offenders. We have been in the process of reviewing our hateful conduct policy to prohibit additional types of abusive behavior and allow more types of reporting, with the goal of reducing the burden on the person being targeted. We’ll provide more details on those changes in the coming weeks."
Twitter has come under criticism for its response to Jones' harassment. Instagram, by contrast, quickly moved to curb negative comments on Taylor Swift's posts. It's worth noting that unlike Instagram, Twitter is notoriously averse to silencing even the most negative voices on its platform, except when they're reported by users. Harassment is a major problem that the company has yet to fully solve.
This article was originally published at 5:15 a.m.
Ghostbusters has been getting a constant stream of hate because it dares to have a female cast. Now cast-member Leslie Jones reveals that she's been the target of racist vitriol spewed on social media. People: This is why we can't have nice things.
Yesterday the comedian exposed several trolls who have been making racist jokes and nasty asides about her appearance.
Some people on here are fucking disgusting. I'm blocking your filthy ass if retweet that perverted shit. Just know that now bitches!!
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 18, 2016
Jones went on to post many of the upsetting comments, urging her followers to report the original posters. Way to name and shame, gal. As you can see from the selection below, the tweets are truly offensive.
Ok I have been called Apes, sent pics of their asses,even got a pic with semen on my face. I'm tryin to figure out what human means. I'm out
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 18, 2016
I'm exposing you suck mfs pic.twitter.com/WLzRzE92RV
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 18, 2016
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 18, 2016
Exposing I hope y'all go after them like they going after me pic.twitter.com/ojK5FdIA0H
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 18, 2016
Yep so sad these people have mothers and sisters and aunts. So fucking sickening pic.twitter.com/fEVLEgUfGh
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 18, 2016
The SNL star spoke out in a series of tweets.
"You have to hate yourself to put out that type of hate," she told followers. "I mean on my worst day I can't think of this type of hate to put out."
I feel like I'm in a personal hell. I didn't do anything to deserve this. It's just too much. It shouldn't be like this. So hurt right now.
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 19, 2016
I leave Twitter tonight with tears and a very sad heart.All this cause I did a movie.You can hate the movie but the shit I got today...wrong
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 19, 2016
Loni Love, Margaret Cho, and Sherri Shepherd have tweeted support for Jones. Trolls: You're on notice.
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