How Businesses Can Use Technology to Fight Abusive Language

It is impossible to overstate the role that social media plays in the world, from shaping how people behave to influencing the way businesses operate. There are 4.9 billion people using social media, or more than 60 percent of the world’s population. And 73 percent of marketers believe that their efforts through social media marketing have been “somewhat effective” or “very effective” for their business.

At the same time, the popularity of social media has a downside, including the rise of abusive language – or expressing hatred of a particular group of people. Abusive language has wreaked havoc on social media. Abusive language harms people and degrades society. From a business standpoint, abusive language also creates serious brand safety issues. Let’s take a closer look at the problem and how to fight it.

Severity of the Problem

Unfortunately, abusive language is a widespread problem, as the following data indicates:

48% of people globally report experiencing threats including sustained bullying (5 percent), stalking (7 percent), and account takeover by someone they know (6 percent).
Over the past 3 years, the odds of users experiencing abuse have increased by 1.3 times.
41% of Americans reported personally experiencing varying degrees of harassment and bullying online, in a survey by Pew in 2017. Globally, 40 percent of people reported similar experiences.

And the problem will only get worse as more social media apps take hold. TikTok, which did not even exist until recently, is now a worldwide phenomenon. Unfortunately, more people using TikTok also means a rise in abusive language.

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