A cross party group of MPs believe that social media companies and the government have failed disabled users and must act urgently.
Helen Jones MP
The Committee Chair, Helen Jones MP, said: “Our enquiry into online abuse and the experience of disabled people has shown that social media is rife with vile, degrading and dehumanising comments about people with disabilities. It’s time for action.”
She went on to add: “We’ve listened to disabled people to come up with our recommendations to tackle online abuse of disabled people and we will spend the summer listening to them again. By launching this consultation, we want to make it clear that the voices of disabled people must be heard.”
She continued by saying: “In the Petitions Committee, we work hard to ensure that our work reflects what the people who petition Parliament think and feel. When we want to know what people think, we ask them. It should be normal practice for select committees to consult on their recommendations , so I’m pleased that the Petitions Committe is taking this step.
It is deeply disappointing that social companies don’t engage fully with their disabled users. With their vast financial resources, there’s no excuse for their failure to make their platforms as safe for disabled users as they are for other users.
We were shocked to hear that in 2018 the Government still doesn’t ensure that the needs of all communities are considered when looking at digital policy. Parliament and Government are there to serve the people, and neither can do that if we don’t include them in the conversation.”
The Petitions Committee highlighted that disabled people are failed at every stage in the development of digital policy and practice, noting that:
The Government and social media companies fail to consider disabled people when developing policy and practice
The law is insufficient in dealing with disability hate crime
And the online space has opened up new avenues for so-called “mate crime”