Women of Color Face More Online Abuse When Running for Congress

A recent study by the Center for Democracy and Technology and the University of Pittsburgh found that women of color running for Congress in 2024 have been disproportionately targeted with offensive and hateful speech on social media. The report analyzed over 800,000 tweets from May to August this year, focusing on posts mentioning congressional candidates. It revealed that more than 20% of tweets aimed at Black and Asian women contained offensive language, while African American women were particularly targeted with hate speech—a staggering 4% compared to the less-than-1% average across all candidates. The report suggests that such online attacks can discourage women of color from seeking office, urging social media platforms like X to implement stronger policies and better tools to protect these candidates.