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Social Media and the #MeToo Movement

The Me Too movement began with activist Tarana Burke over a decade ago, and since then has become a worldwide cause. After being popularized in a tweet by actress Alyssa Milano, the Me Too hashtag was used on Twitter 19 million times as of October 2018.¹ The social media prominence of this movement has made it accessible to a breadth of people and helped it reflect how widespread the problem truly is, however these platforms have also caused problems within the movement regarding journalistic practice and ethics.

The celebrity tweet that made the movement mainstream, @Alyssa_Milano on Twitter, October 15, 2017

Through its evolution from a grassroots movement to an international demand for change, the Me Too movement has connected survivors, organized rallies, and given a unified voice to survivors who’ve been silenced for decades. With the accessibility of social media, the platform to participate is available to groups of people who are often overlooked by mainstream media sources, such as the LGBTQ+ community and people of colour. It also allows for disabled bodies to join the crowd without having to physically be at protests, meetings etc that may have accessibility troubles. With a problem as broad as sexual assault, the movement itself needs to be equally broad. This is why it is vital that Me Too has been so present on social media, which allows conversations to take place on a platform that is free, relatively uncensored and widely popular. This reach means that anyone can be an activist, share their stories, and find community around a cause that has historically pushed people apart and silenced survivors. The movement would essentially cease to exist without the vital consciousness-raising that is largely attributable to its online presence.²

However it is also important to consider the ways social media can delegitimize this issue and take away from reliable coverage of events. The online influx of dialogue is simply too much to be controlled. Although that has been a factor in the movement’s success, it also allows for blatant violations of journalism ethics such as harm to survivors, and openly critical views of one another³ While the hashtag has been used millions of times by users from all walks of life, social media remains an unequal platform, continually drawing focus to celebrities and leaving minorities in the shadows. This celebrity spotlight has also somewhat glorified the cause, inspiring fabricated or exaggerated stories, and “find(ing) fault with the self-satisfaction generated by online activist experiences that seemingly have little to do with action on the ground.”⁴ Simply put, the mainstream dialogue relating to the Me Too movement often draws attention away from the cause itself and can even be neglectful of the individual needs of survivors. Some have also questioned the ability of social media activism to incite real change, going to far as to call it “slacktivism,” criticizing those who join the movement exclusively online.⁵

Protestors advocating for the Me Too movement in Vancouver, Nov. 7, 2017 by Ryan Patrick Jones via www.ubyssey.ca

Overall, the Me Too movement was essentially made by social media. However, regardless of its advantages, it is always important to be aware of the ways it can inhibit the ethics and efficacy of a movement. With this topic especially, responsible consumption requires you to diversify your sources, be aware of potential bias, and seek out the voices that are often silenced by both news sources and social media.

Source Footnotes:

1. Brown, Dalvin. “19 Million Tweets Later: A Look at #MeToo a Year after the Hashtag Went Viral.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 14 Oct. 2018, www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/10/13/metoo-impact-hashtag-made-online/1633570002/.

2. Gleeson J., Turner B. (2019) Online Feminist Activism as Performative Consciousness-Raising: A #MeToo Case Study. In: Fileborn B., Loney-Howes R. (eds) #MeToo and the Politics of Social Change. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

3. SPJ Code of Journalism Ethics “SPJ Code of Journalism Ethics - Society of Professional Journalists” Society of Professional Journalists - Improving and Protecting Journalism since 1909. https://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp

4. Gieseler, Carly. The Voices of #MeToo : From Grassroots Activism to a Viral Roar, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ubc/detail.action?docID=5837109.

5. Gieseler, Carly. The Voices of #MeToo : From Grassroots Activism to a Viral Roar

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The Role of Journalism Today (it’s an important one)

We are living in a rapidly changing environment, in which truth, justice, and news are being redefined every minute. In the last 40 years, we have gone from seeing an average of 500 images a day to an average of 5000, and while this has drastically altered the way we receive and interpret information, it has not rendered journalism obsolete. If anything, this abundance and increased accessibility of information has made responsible journalism, and consumption thereof, all the more important.¹

As stated in the SJP Code of Ethics, responsible journalism is vital in order to “hold... those with power accountable” and “give voice to the voiceless.”² While “Fake News” has been a concept since long before Trump’s election,³ 21st century technology has evolved this idea so that now anyone can fabricate and spread “news”, and any consumer is liable to be affected by it. As stated in Gillmor’s “Principles of Media Literacy,” journalism itself has evolved to the point where it can influence the very subjects it reports on, and vice versa. It is because of this newly vulnerable playing field that ethical and professional journalism is vital to keep citizens informed and, in turn, hold the powerful accountable to act with honesty and consider those who are affected by their choices.

With this duty, it is also essential that journalists avoid as much bias as possible in order to spread information that is not only accurate, but also which presents the story completely and contextually. In a generation which participates in social media such as Twitter, and rarely reads the news, one must be wary of judgements made off of short headlines or snippets of text that circulate the web essentially unfiltered. With these new platforms allowing anyone to share information widely, professional journalism is still left responsible for representing stories impartially, in context, and without oversimplifying.⁴ While anyone can share their opinions, it is the journalistic field which has the power to reach out to primary sources and provide real truth and depth in their account of current events.

In his article “Making media literacy great again,” Rosenwald notes that fabricated or misleading information online is used to sway opinions, but is just as often used to solidify pre-existing notions held by consumers.⁵ In today’s global society, this directly counteracts the necessity that we unlearn prejudices and open our minds to varying perspectives. Although bias is the enemy of ethical journalism, journalists must still have a unique part in the larger conversation of our increasingly interconnected world. Movements such as #MeToo are sweeping the globe, where it is essential that information is shared from a wealth of different experiences and perspectives. As communication modernizes, journalism must play the role of mediator to orchestrate diverse perspectives and promote underprivileged voices to join the conversation.

Today, more than ever, journalism is vital in a democratic society. While consumers are presented with an unparalleled quantity of information, we lean on responsible journalism to tell us what and who to believe. It is because of this responsibility and value that journalism must continue to be viewed critically and held to a higher ethical standard by both its practitioners and its consumers.⁶

Source Footnotes:

1.  Gillmor, Dan. “Principles for a New Media Literacy.” Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, 2008. https://cyber.harvard.edu/sites/cyber.law.harvard.edu/files/Principles%20for

2. SPJ Code of Journalism Ethics “SPJ Code of Journalism Ethics - Society of Professional Journalists” Society of Professional Journalists - Improving and Protecting Journalism since 1909. https://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp

3. Rosenwald, Michael. “Making Media Literacy Great Again.” Columbia Journalism Review, 2017. https://www.cjr.org/special_report/media-literacy-trump-fake-news.php

4. SPJ Code of Journalism Ethics

5. Rosenwald, Michael. “Making Media Literacy Great Again.”

6. Gillmor, Dan. “Principles for New Media Literacy”