A new report by Amnesty International titled "#ToxicTwitter: Violence and Abuse Against Women Online" details what the organization regards as the social media giant's failure to address trolling, threats of violence and online abuse.

Twitter is for many women a platform where violence and abuse against them flourishes, often with little accountability. As a company, Twitter is failing in its responsibility to respect women’s rights online by inadequately investigating and responding to reports of violence and abuse in a transparent manner.

A platform for abuse

The violence and abuse many women experience on Twitter has a detrimental effect on their right to express themselves equally, freely and without fear.

Instead of strengthening women’s voices, the violence and abuse many women experience on the platform leads women to self-censor what they post, limit their interactions, and even drives women off Twitter completely.

Women emphasize how important the platform is to them – both professionally and personally. Women rely on social media platforms like Twitter to advocate, communicate, mobilize, access information and gain visibility.

Abuse leads to change in use

Amnesty surveyed women aged 18–55 in the UK, USA, Spain, Denmark, Italy, Sweden, Poland and New Zealand about their experiences of online abuse or harassment on social media platforms.

• 23% of women polled across the eight countries, ranging from 16% in Italy to 33% in the US, said they had experienced online abuse or harassment.
• More than a quarter (26%) said they had received threats of physical or sexual assault.
• Around two-thirds of women who had experienced abuse or harassment online in the UK (67%), New Zealand (64%) and Italy (68%) stated a feeling of apprehension when thinking about using the internet or social media.
• More than 76% of women across the eight countries who had experienced abuse or harassment on social media have made some changes to the way they use social media platforms as a result.

Twitter has said it disagrees with Amnesty's conclusions. On 1 March, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey issued a series of posts in response, stressing the company's commitment to reform and acknowledging that offense caused on Twitter has "real-world negative consequences."