UK’s Ofcom Publishes Online Usage Survey Results, Asks Tech Companies to Ensure Women’s Safety

The Office of Communication, also known as Ofcom, which is the UK’s communications regulator, published a report according to which women are more likely to be victims of online abuse and harmful content compared to men.

Soon after the report was published Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes stated that tech companies need to do more to protect women who eventually are likely to get distressed by such content or the abuse. She also noted that companies need to prioritise user safety over revenue.

Only 21% of those who reported content to social networks said it was removed as a result, according to the study of more than 6,600 adults in the UK, and half said nothing occurred at all. Meanwhile, only 42% of the women polled claimed they felt comfortable commenting freely on the internet.

As reported by BBC, Dawes said: “Look at your algorithms. Too many companies prioritise growth and revenue over user safety and don’t actually think about the impact on the front-line user.”

“Let’s speak to women and make it easier for them to report things. At the moment people don’t trust that if they do report things anything will be done,” she added.

She also encouraged the tech behemoths to “look in the mirror” and include female employees in the development of services and platforms.

According to the agency’s findings, in 2021, adults spent an average of four hours a day online. The top four most-used apps were all owned by Meta. It was also noted that Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger accounted for 42 minutes of daily internet use on average.

As per Ofcom, 60% of the women in the study group indicated they had been affected by trolling, compared to only 25% of the men. Mixed-ethnic and black internet users were the most likely to be exposed to possible damage online, with over 75% reporting having done so in the previous month.

But overall 67% of internet users believed the benefits outweighed the risks of being online.

It is noteworthy that the agency also looked into gaming habits and found that Candy Crush Saga had 2.5 million UK players—among which 1.7 million were women—in February 2022, making it the most popular mobile game.

Additionally, it was found that with 3.2 million paying subscribers, Sony’s PlayStation Plus was the most popular gaming subscription service in the UK.

Similarly, other online platforms related findings revealed that men made up 62% of Tinder visitors in the UK, while women made up 38%, and 58% of three-to-15-year-olds in the country use social media, such as TikTok or Snapchat even though the legal age for having a social media account is 13 years old.

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