Meet Tunisian activist Amal Bint Nadia, one of the founders of Signali Féministement, a Facebook group acting as a whistleblower regarding discriminatory or violent gender-related content online.
EuroMed Rights: Could you present the group Signali Féministement?
Amal Bint Nadia: Signali Féministement is a Facebook group where members can signal violations. It is a safe space where members can share digital content discriminating on the basis of gender, origin, appearance, religion, skin colour, class, sexual orientation etc. The type of content varies between advertising, ad campaigns, publications, comments, online pages or social media accounts but also press articles, newspapers, billboards, political speeches etc.
The Facebook group promotes solidarity between all women victims of discrimination. It is thought as a sorority and supports, unconditionally, without judgement nor condescension, all victims and survivors of violence.
The group promotes intersectional and radical feminism. It targets patriarchy and white supremacy and fights against sexism, racism, hetero-patriarchy and colonialism. It also denounces capitalism as a way to subjugate women, blacks, LGBTQI+ as well as people marginalised and discriminated against based on their appearance, which is deemed at odds with established notions of normalcy.
What led to the creation of this group?
I am a co-founder and a member of various feminist and queer groups such as the Falgatna Movement, the Literary Feminist Collective Chaml and the Chouf association for the sexual and corporal rights of LBT people). I am also the moderator of the EnaZeda movement (Tunisian #MeToo). I worked as a journalist before devoting myself to feminist civil society as a project coordinator 5 years ago.
Over the last 5 years, media and social networks have become more and more influential and present in the lives of Tunisian people. These online spaces are often places where discriminatory and violent discourses are promoted and conveyed, mainly against women, but also against the LGBTQI+ community, black people etc.
The idea to create this group arose when we noticed that our feminist comrades were often sharing whistleblower content in feminist Facebook groups, but that these calls were getting lost in the flood of information and were not receiving the necessary attention.
We are convinced that some speech is irrelevant, and denouncing it does not run counter to freedom of expression. We created the group Signali Féministement drawing inspiration from the work done by those harassing us. In fact, the idea of signaling publications came to me from the actions undertaken by so-called “net militias”. These are often linked to false profiles that act as an organised pack to harass, discriminate and spread violence.
In the beginning the group was rather private: only women, trans and non-binary people could join it. As time went by, we noticed the rise of digital violence against homosexual people or people with a so-called non-normative gender expression. As we were conscious of the fact that LGBTQI+ people don’t have many safe spaces, we decided to open the group to LGBTQI+ people and allied cisgender men.
What happens when sexist content is shared in the group?
The group is managed by moderators (including myself). We check all publications and comments to ensure that they comply with the group policy. Anyone wishing to report content is required to share the link to the publication in question as well as the reason for the report. Sometimes publications call for discussion on the topic or simply ask for a comment on the publication in question. Everyone is free to contribute in any way they wish.
We work closely with the EnaZeda page, the Chaml group, and the Falgatna collective. We try to give the best possible guidance to people who need legal or psychological support. For instance, in the event a person is a victim of “revenge porn” we report the publication en masse so that it disappears and the person suffers as little damage as possible. Thanks to the members of the group, we often manage to communicate quickly with the police when we receive videos of rape or violence.
The group requires all members to adopt a safe and respectful behaviour. Examples of undesirable behaviour and grounds of exclusion are detailed in an ethical charter within the group. In order to join the group, a series of questions must be answered so that the moderators can get an idea of the person requesting access, see their Facebook profile and whether that person seems trustful and an ally. We favour access to people who have been invited by members or who already have friends in the group.
In addition, the moderators make themselves available to listen to members’ criticisms, and decisions concerning the group are made in a participatory manner. Moderators also call on members to report discriminatory or violent behaviour in the group by contacting them directly in private.
How much content gets signalled on a daily basis?
The group was created on 31 january 2020 and now consist of 700 members. On average we get alerts on 10 publications per day, 30 comments, 40 reactions.
Did you notice a change during the COVID pandemic?
During the pandemic, the number of interactions and publications about the group increased exponentially. Real violence has exploded (or has become more visible) in recent years, and all the more so online where people reproduce sexist behaviours existing in our societies. Imagine then what can happen when people find themselves trapped at home with their ignorance. They spend more time on social networks, which allows them to let off steam and, in turn, spread violence and discrimination on these same social networks.
Have the moderators or the group itself ever been victims of cyber-violence (trolling, threats etc.)?
Not necessarily. The administrators of the group are intersectional feminists and all are queer. Most are or have been active in civil society primarily in queer and feminist struggles. Every one of us also knows at least one person who has experienced cyber-misogyny and cyber-bullying. This reflects exactly what we experience in the street/society, whether we are veiled or in a miniskirt. And given the existing impunity due to the anonymity provided by the internet, this scourge continues to spread because aggressors feel protected and safe.
Fortunately, movements like EnaZeda and groups like ours exist. Movements such as these free the voice of victims of cyber-bullying and reverses the fear from one side to the other.
Do you think online sexist content are sufficiently regulated on social media?
The digital space allows sharing, but it is not always a safe space. There are dangerous and violent people, just like in “real life”, with the notable difference that the virtual side emboldens them.
Facebook recently published an estimate of the extent of content relaying hate speech on its platform. This is content having escaped automatic moderation: there were 22.1 million pieces of hate content between July and September 2020 on Facebook and 6.5 million on Instagram. It is well known that the majority of hate speech, whether racist or LGBTI-phobic, is directed particularly at women.
Violence against women online has very real consequences and getting content removed is the primary concern of victims. But the reporting system is difficult to use and the modalities vary from one social network to another and are not effective enough. During the pandemic, reporting on Facebook was blocked for many people around me. They received messages saying that Facebook could not take their report into account due to the pandemic.
I am convinced that social networks do not do enough to protect us. If I share a photo with a nipple on Facebook, my account will be blocked very quickly by Facebook bots. But when I report a sexist posting, it will take a ton of reports to get it removed. When the publication is written in Tunisian, with a sexist Tunisian cultural anecdote, neither the robots nor the moderators on the social network can understand it. They are unable to make a decision.
Social networks have a long way to go to improve (especially with regard to languages or dialects in certain countries) and to better protect its users.
Do you think that violence against women online is sufficiently regulated in Tunisia? To your knowledge, are there any government mechanisms (laws, initiatives) in place to combat violence against women online?
- Women are increasingly facing online violence, cyber-bullying and cyber-misogyny because :
- Culturally, discrimination is often normalised and trivialised,
- A legal arsenal with more effective laws dedicated to virtual space must be developed,
Access to justice must be facilitated. Everyone should be financially able to pay a lawyer, to dedicate time, patience and energy for justice to be done.
A real feminist policy is necessary in order to harmonise the 2014 Constitution with existing laws, to facilitate access to justice and to put an end to impunity. And to do this, the state must become aware of the real dangers of cyber-violence and take it more seriously.
According to you, what should be done in priority to tackle online violence against women?
I belong to those who start to believe that we must invest everything in the education of children: an education that is non-generational, anti-racist, non-sexist, that is not based on the domination of one over the other. Education is the most effective way to protect future generations.