Black, female and high-profile, Kamala Harris is a top target in online fever swamps

Research shows that Harris may be the most targeted American politician on the Internet, one who checks every box for the haters of the fever swamps: She’s a woman, she’s a person of colour and she holds power. — AFP

Soon after Joe Biden announced last year that he would pick a woman as his running mate, US Rep. Jackie Speier began warning Facebook executives: Female politicians receive the most vile online attacks, and the company’s filters were failing to stop them.

“We showed them 20 examples that were disgusting – and they were still up!” said Speier, a California Democrat, whose meetings included one with Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg. Facebook’s response gave her little comfort. “Keep sending us these horrific examples,” she said executives told her, “and we’ll take them down.”