The authors use the timing of a change in Twitter’s rules regarding abusive content to test the effectiveness of organizational policies aimed at stemming online harassment. Institutionalist theories of social control suggest that such interventions can be efficacious if they are perceived as legitimate, whereas theories of psychological reactance suggest that users may instead ratchet up aggressive behavior in response to the sanctioning authority. In a sample of 3.6 million tweets spanning one month before and one month after Twitter’s policy change, the authors find evidence of a modest positive shift in the average sentiment of tweets with slurs targeting women and/or African Americans. The authors further illustrate this trend by tracking the network spread of specific tweets and individual users. Retweeted messages are more negative than those not forwarded. These patterns suggest that organizational “anti-abuse” policies can play a role in stemming hateful speech on social media without inflaming further abuse.

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Researchers find abundant racism and sexism online; for many, such harassment is a feature of their everyday experience. Drawing on interviews with Black and Asian women, I investigate the ways individuals negotiate whether and how to respond to cyber aggression. While social media affords users novel resources for responding to hostility, being online does not remove the social expectations imposed. Balancing (sometimes unconsciously) the desire to confront racism/sexism with the digital emotional labor undertaken in responding, women describe how they choose to present themselves and determine when responses are worthwhile. Often, they respond online where in person they would not have been comfortable, while at other times, they choose nonreaction to protect their personal well-being. Elucidating the individual burden that Black and Asian women navigate in response to cyber aggression and the toll that comes from implementing their idealized responses is essential to comprehend the experiences and consequences of modern racism/sexism.

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