Ardern Abuse and Online Law
Tom Borman, Contributing editor
New Zealand’s internet safety agencies came out fighting after getting called out for failing to protect Jacinda Ardern from the dark underbelly of social media.
Back in October 2023, Paul Hunt, the now dearly departed (from the Human Rights Commission) and politically correct Chief Human Rights Commissioner, decided to ruffle some feathers by firing off a letter to NZ Tech’s, Graeme Muller, essentially accusing X and Meta of leaving Jacinda Ardern out to dry in a sea of online hatred and violence.
The Human Rights Commission went full throttle, declaring New Zealand’s shiny new online safety code about as useful as a chocolate teapot.
According to an RNZ report from Guyon Espiner, NZ Tech lawyered up and came out swinging, accusing Hunt’s advisors of bias and threatening to sic the Auditor General and Public Service Commission on them.
The Hunt Letter
Hunt’s letter, which RNZ obtained via an Official Information request, painted a grim picture. Over 48 hours in September 2023, some X user with a following bigger than most small towns went on a rampage against Ardern.
Hunt said that over 48 hours in September 2023, an X user with more than 400,000 followers made a series of vile and abusive posts harassing Ardern.
“His targeted harassment is gendered, includes explicit and implicit references to sexual assault and rape and, as a harassment campaign led by a high-profile influencer, meets the description of technology-facilitated gender-based violence,” Hunt said in the letter.
“The replies and re-posts are typified by violence, misogyny, and hate.”
Hunt, a former human rights and civil liberties lawyer from London and former Waikato University lecturer, was famously identified for labelling colonisation as “the major issue of our time”.
His letter to the technies referenced a cesspool of abuse regarding Ardern. “Dog, pest, pig… rodent, vile, bitch and witch.” (That’s just the PG version.)
Death threats were tossed around freely as well.
Hunt claimed X and Meta were dragging their feet, violating not just human rights but also their own online safety code.
The Code of Practice for Online Safety and Harms was launched in 2022 by Netsafe and NZTech and signed by tech firms Meta, Google, TikTok, Twitch and X.
In response the two agencies hired barrister Anna Adams of Bankside Chambers, (pictured), former Chair of Meredith Connell and former prosecutor and regulatory and administrative law expert, who wrote a robustly worded letter to Hunt.
“The commission’s actions in sending the letters appears unreasonable, unlawful, and outside its statutory functions as a Crown entity,” she wrote.
She said the HRC “appears to have allowed itself to be captured by a group of outsiders – the IAG – with an agenda to fix the Code”.
The IAG is the Independent Accountability Group set up by the HRC to review the code of practice for online safety, and was signed by Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Google (YouTube), Tik Tok, Twitch, and Twitter in 2022.
The ACT Party in particular has attacked the HRC saying it is a “hard-left organisation masquerading as a government department”.
Seeing this kind of abuse towards Ardern really puts the spotlight on how toxic online communities can get. It’s fascinating yet troubling. Makes you wonder about the psychological effects on both sides.
While the article paints a grim picture, it’s essential to analyze underlying economic motives. Do social platforms profit from such rampant abuse? It’s a broader societal issue that needs addressing.
Great point, EconRob. There’s data showing that engagement, even negative, boosts platform ad revenues significantly. It’s a systemic problem.
how do these online attacks even start? what’s the point of going after someone like ardern? genuine question here, trying to understand this madness.
It’s tough reading about the abuse Ardern faced. Kudos to LawFuel Editors for bringing these issues to light. Education on online civility is needed now more than ever.
Remember when the worst thing you could get online was spam mail about winning a million dollars? Good times, compared to this mess with Ardern. Where’s the spam when you need it, huh?
So, an X user bigger than small towns decides to torment Ardern, and we act shocked. As if the internet has ever been a utopia. It’s like complaining about the rain in Seattle. Par for the course, folks.
Too right, PixelPundit. It’s about survival of the thickest skin online. Still, doesn’t excuse the behavior though.
But there’s always hope for a better, kinder internet. Conversations like these are the starting point. Let’s focus on solutions, not just the rain.