Yesterday, MPs debated the Online Safety Bill as it entered a new stage of its journey to becoming law.

Tens of thousands of us have spoken out and demanded that this law protects women and girls from abuse, and we’ve got the support of a range of MPs too.

But the government has still not committed to the changes we need to see if this law is to work for women and girls:

• Naming violence against women and girls in the legislation as a key harm
• Taking an intersectional approach to addressing abuse that disproportionately targets Black women
• Introducing a Code of Practice that would require tech companies to take proactive steps to prevent and address this abuse

This is despite the government’s own latest research finding that over 4 in 5 adults are concerned about harmful content online such as racism, homophobia and misogyny, and 68% want social media firms to do more to tackle it. 

Amid endless reports of platforms facilitating or failing to take action against online abuse - most recently brought to light by a BBC investigation into ‘upskirting’ groups on Facebook - the government can no longer ignore the urgent need to explicitly include women and girls in the Online Safety Bill.

Reforms recommended to protections for women online

The Law Commission has recommended ways for the government to strengthen existing offences for image-based sexual abuse by focusing laws on consent - which would remove barriers to justice for millions of women and girls.

But criminal offences alone are not enough to end violence against women online. Ultimately, we need the law to hold tech companies to account so that they take a systematic approach to preventing this abuse from happening on their platforms in the first place.

What can you do? 

While the Bill is entering a new phase in Parliament, the time for influencing it is now.

We’re planning some campaign actions and events later this year, and hope we can count on you to show the government just how many of us want the online safety law to protect women and girls from abuse!

Keep an eye out for our next update and follow us on our socials for more info: @EVAWuk @GlitchUK_

In the meantime, keep sharing this campaign with your networks and talking about how the Online Safety Bill is failing women and girls, and keep contacting your MP about this!

Thanks as ever for all of your support and solidarity.

Seyi and Andrea