SWNJofcom – By Hannah Van De Peer
A plus-sized influencer says she welcomes Ofcom’s draft measures to stomp out abuse aimed at women and girls on social media – after receiving hate comments and stalking threats.
The UK’s communications regulator set out 11 practical steps for online services to tackle misogyny, pile-ons, online domestic abuse and other harms today (February 25).
Its proposed new measures including user prompts discouraging people from posting harmful comments and accessible reporting tools.
Size 24 Hannah Attewell, 36, says she receives comments on TikTok telling her she’s “eating herself to an early grave” – and believes she wouldn’t get as much hate if she wasn’t a “fat woman.”
Despite feeling confident in her own skin, Hannah says she receives tons of comments saying she “deserves” death every time she posts.
She says a male content creator posted a 16-minute YouTube video dissecting one of her TikToks – which she can’t bring herself to watch.
Hannah worries having her personal information visible on her profile leaves her vulnerable to “stalkers” – and says people have tracked down family members just by using it.
As a sole trader, she worries about sharing personal details to clients online due to stalking threats she’s received in the past – which she reported to the police.
She hopes the measures will make it easier to report fatphobic comments and get users banned.
Hannah, a wedding photographer and influencer from St. Albans, Hertfordshire, said: “If the kind of comments I receive are more likely to be taken down under the new regulations – I think that would be an amazing thing.
“Because I’m a sole trader, a lot of my personal information is on the internet – I feel like I’m making myself more vulnerable by being visible.
“I’ve even had people find out my mum’s business page and leave her negative reviews.”
She added: “There’s a lot of: ‘You’re so fat, you’re going to die’ and ‘you’re disgusting.’
“I was posted on a YouTube channel all about fat women who post on TikTok.
“Being online is a double-edged sword; you meet lots of like-minded people, but also so much hate.
“Someone once found my business online, my phone number and where I lived – they’d gone through quite an effort to find stuff out about me.
“I always, in the back of my mind, worry that misogynists will find me and come to my house.”
Hannah says men feel “genuinely angry” that she’s “fat and happy” – as well as women with their own body image issues.
She believes there are “so many” anonymous accounts on social media, people feel they can say anything they want without consequences.
The influencer hopes Ofcom’s new measures will make it easier to report anonymous accounts and get them taken down.
“I’ve never exactly understood why people get so upset,” Hannah said.
“I do think, when you’re not attractive to men, they feel as if you’re not fulfilling your end of the social contract.
“It’s like, they get offended by me not wanting to be seen as attractive by them.
“There’s a level of anonymity; it does seem that people feel like they can say anything that pops into their head.
“Even with comments that aren’t hateful, sometimes I’m like: ‘Why did you write this?”
As well as the current proposed regulations, Hannah wants to see more measures being taken to stop fatphobia online.
She says efforts to report anti-fat comments are often fruitless – and finds accounts never get banned for “posting hate” under her videos.
“Body image on the internet is huge for women and girls,” she added.
“Fat people are so denigrated on the internet.
“There’s a real attitude of: ‘If you put yourself out there, you deserve what you get.’
“But I’ll report fatphobic comments all the time – platforms will say there’s nothing wrong with it.”
