Calls to Tackle Online Islamophobia

posted on: Jan 27, 2015

BBC journalist Maaiysa Valli was called an “uneducated animal” because of her religion

By Anisa Kadri

Amid concerns over an increase in Islamophobic content on social media following the recent Paris attacks, BBC Asian Network has been hearing from Muslims about their experience of being the target of anti-Islamic sentiment online.

Activist Akeela Ahmed says she uses Twitter to campaign on equality issues. Her profile picture shows her in her hijab.

“If I tweet something to do with women’s rights, I’ll get tweets usually from men saying, ‘How can you tweet that when you’ve got that thing on your head?’ They’re talking about my hijab.

“Post-Paris, the abuse increased and it was a lot worse,” she says, referring to negative comments posted online following the attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, in which gunmen said they were killing in the name of Islam.

“One particular person was quite specific in their threats and wanting to kill Muslims. Normally, I’m not threatened by it, but on this occasion I was.”

Akeela Ahmed says she has suffered anti-Muslim abuse for years but it has recently worsened

That Twitter account has been taken down. But there are concerns that some Islamophobic content remains online.

Campaigners from the organisation Tell Mama, which monitors hate against Muslims online, sent Asian Network some examples.

“When events like Paris happen, what seems to happen is that people on social media sites have bigger discussions,”says Bharath Ganesh.

“The language we’ve seen is extremely derogatory towards Muslims.

“Hashtags like #killallmuslims appear. Some Muslims used that hashtag to highlight anti-Islamic sentiments online.”

‘Anger’

Akeela says she understands where the anger stems from.

“As we see more terrorist incidents globally, many people feel anger about terror attacks and they go online and use their medium to vent their anger. But, as a result, there is an increase in anti-Muslim sentiment generally.

“On Facebook, it’s a problem too. There are some groups who promote anti-Muslim sentiments. It’s about dealing responsibly with these issues.”

Facebook and Twitter both urge users to report anti-Islamic content. The Attorney General, Jeremy Wright – the government’s legal adviser – has signalled he would like to meet with both firms to see what more can be done in this area.

#NotInMyName

Maaiysa Valli, a BBC journalist, was tweeting in a personal capacity when she used the #NotInMyName hashtag that Muslims have been using to distance themselves from extremists.

See more at source: www.bbc.com