While Twitter has been actively involved in trying to curb the spread of fake news over the internet, this is not the only public issue it is focusing on. The company has now announced that it is working to raise awareness regarding domestic violence against women in light of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on November 25 and Human Rights Day on December 10.
The firm says that there has been a major increase in cases of domestic violence against women this year, and it is estimated that in every three months of COVID-19 lockdown, over 15 million women are subject to it. Twitter says that its platform is being used to have discussions surrounding this topic - which it calls the "shadow pandemic".
With the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Human Rights Day just around the corner, the company is partnering with UN Women and UN Human Rights Office to launch custom emojis that will appear every time you use the hashtags #GenerationEquality, #16Days, and #OrangeTheWorld, among others. Twitter hopes that this will be useful in raising awareness regarding this issue. Furthermore, the firm says that:
We are supporting local nonprofits across the world by providing Ads for Good grants to several partners to ensure that they can use the power of Twitter’s advertising platform to reach more people. Throughout the next #16Days, we will also amplify various regional campaigns and messages about the importance of gender equality and combating violence against women to increase engagement and awareness.
Lastly, Twitter has also highlighted that when people issue search queries related to gender-based violence on its platform, they will also receive notifications providing contact information for hotlines and other helpful resources. The firm is expanding this service regionally with the passage of time and it is currently available in 24 countries including the U.S., the U.K., Belgium, Canada, France, and Italy.