- Brand campaign makes moves into policy changes: EE Hope United continues the work it began during the UEFA Women’s European Championships in 2022 tackling online sexist hate by lobbying for changes to be made to the Online Safety Bill
- Working with Glitch – the UK charity focused on ending online abuse and championing digital citizenship – EE has begun a targeted campaign rallying the public to make the Bill safer for women and girls
- For more information on Hope United, visit ee.co.uk/hopeunited
Thursday 13th April, 2023: EE has today called on the Government to honour its promise ‘to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online’ with a campaign lobbying the House of Lords to namecheck women and girls in the Bill.
The EE Hope United campaign aims to raise awareness for the need for women and girls to be namechecked by sharing a series of statistics which highlight gender inequalities in online safety:
262 pages. Zero mention of women and girls. The Online Safety Bill must change.
Women of colour are 34% more likely to be mentioned in abusive tweets than white women*.
65% of women who report abuse to internet companies don’t feel heard**.
These evocative posts act as a call to action for members of the public to ‘tweet the House of Lords’ and make their voices heard as the Bill is being discussed in Parliament.
This campaign is the latest step in EE Hope United’s continued work tackling online hate in all its forms; following last Summer’s EE Hope United campaign to combat online sexist abuse during the UEFA Women’s European Championships, EE secured the signatures of over sixty UK sports men and women, presenters and journalists on its open letter to policy makers lobbying for a more stringent Online Safety Bill.
The letter, co-signed by Glitch – the UK charity focused on ending online abuse and championing digital citizenship – challenged the Government to pass the Bill in its entirety and called for naming violence against women and girls as a priority harm in the Bill. EE Hope United squad members Gareth Southgate, Lucy Bronze and Demi Stokes were among the signatories, as well as Marcus Rashford, Rio Ferdinand and Fara Williams.
Helen Burrows, Policy and Public Affairs Director at EE, said: “We know that women and girls receive disproportionate levels of online abuse, as highlighted during the UEFA Women’s European Championships last year. It is clear that there is still work to be done; this is why EE Hope United has partnered with Glitch to call on the government to make changes to the Bill so that the experiences of women and girls online can be acknowledged in this important piece of legislation”.
Hilary Watson, Policy and Campaigns Manager at Glitch, added: “Online hate is never acceptable and we know that this is a gendered issue that particularly affects Black women and girls. We need the Online Safety Bill to make the UK online space safer for us all by responding directly to these issues. That’s why Glitch is working with EE Hope United to shine a light on these lived experiences so the Bill can be updated to deliver a better online future for everyone”.
EE Hope United was created by Saatchi & Saatchi, with PR run by Pitch Marketing Group and media buying by Essence. The campaign marks a continuation of the EE Hope United initiative which was launched in 2021 ahead of the UEFA Men’s European Championships to tackle all forms of online hate, with the aim of driving more support for change and educating the nation on how to protect themselves and be good digital citizens.
For more information on Hope United visit:ee.co.uk/hopeunited
ENDS
Source:
*Amnesty International Troll Patrol: Toxic Twitter (2018)
**Impact of online abuse: Hearing the victim’s voice – Victims Commissioner (2022)
About EE
EE runs the UK’s biggest and fastest mobile network, offering superfast connections in more places than any other operator. EE brought the first 4G network to the UK in October 2012 and launched the UK’s first 5G network in May 2019.
EE has received extensive independent recognition, including being named the UK’s no.1 5G network by RootMetrics® in 2020 and 2021, and the UK’s best network every year since 2014 for the following awards: The Mobile Choice Awards, The Mobile Industry Awards and by RootMetrics®.
As well as delivering mobile services to consumers, small and medium businesses, corporate customers and Government programmes, EE also provides home and business broadband using both 4G and fixed line connections.
EE is committed to being number one for service in the industry and has nearly 600 shops across the UK. EE remains the only mobile provider to answer 100% of customer calls in the UK and Ireland and was recognised as the UK’s Best Large Contact Centre by the UK Customer Experience Awards 2018 and Welsh Contact Centre Awards 2019. EE was awarded The Sunday Times’ Best 100 Companies to Work for in 2018 and 2019, as well as being named Best Employer 2018 by the European Contact Centre & Customer Service awards.
Follow us on…
Facebook at: www.facebook.com/ee
Twitter at: www.twitter.com/ee
YouTube at: www.youtube.com/ee
LinkedIn at: www.linkedin.com/company/ee-uk
About Glitch
Glitch is an award-winning UK charity committed to making the online space safe for all by working to end online abuse. They do this by mobilising, educating and inspiring everyone that has a role to play – from individuals and communities, to holding governments and tech platforms to account – with a focus on the disproportionate impact online abuse has on Black women and other marginalised people.
Follow us on…
Twitter: www.twitter.com/GlitchUK_
Instagram: www.instagram.com/glitchuk_/
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/glitch-uk
Source: EE Newsroom
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