Online shield for women eyeing political careers

Women considering a future in politics will have access to real-time protection from online abuse under a new regional initiative aimed at making political participation safer.

The Face Forward initiative, powered by Canadian technology company Areto Labs, will provide free, fully funded protection for women and gender-diverse candidates, elected officials and their social media teams across Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Tonga, Samoa and the Solomon Islands.

The two-year initiative runs until March 2028.

Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection Sashi Kiran said fear of online attacks was discouraging some women from contesting elections.

“We can't do that by telling women to get in when they don't feel safe,” she said.

Ms Kiran said Fiji had only five women in Parliament and more needed to be done to build a pipeline of women leaders.

She said women who had taken part in mock Parliament programmes had raised concerns about attacks on themselves, their families and children.

Areto Labs founder and chief product officer Jacqueline Comer said the technology would scan social media comments in real time and filter abusive content before it was seen.

“It’s built to recognise 55 languages Fijian and it’s also trained to detect gendered abuse, the kind of targeted, coded harassment that women leaders face because of who they are,” she said.

The system operates across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

Face Forward initiative director Zoe Lyon-Gifford said users would remain in control of the protection provided. “They can also decide their abuse threshold,” she said.

Abusive comments are hidden rather than deleted, allowing users to review them through their Areto account and decide whether to unhide them or mute abusive users.

The initiative aims to help women participate in public life without threats, sexualised abuse and intimidation becoming barriers to political participation.