Disinformation board’s ex-leader abused online
WASHINGTON – Nina Jankowicz, like so many millennials, was excited to share a social media post announcing her new job on Twitter late last month when she was named executive director for a new disinformation board established by the Department of Homeland Security.
But instead of well-wishes, Jankowicz’s tweet set off a torrent of sexist profanities across social media and menacing emails filled with rape or death threats that continue to follow her even after she resigned from that new job on Wednesday morning following the disastrous rollout of the program. Republicans also raised questions about her fitness to serve in the role, given some of her past comments about former President Donald Trump and his allies.
It’s a familiar scenario, not only for those who criticize Trump, but also for many other women.
In part, it’s also due to a confluence of social media, a hyperpolarized world and the crush of online harassment, stalking and abuse that has driven dozens of women around the globe from powerful positions.
“This type of silencing and terrorizing are global, sadly, and unsurprising,” said Danielle Citron, a law professor at the University of Virginia who studies online privacy and hate crimes. “It is a playbook. And it’s downright scary.”
In 2018, after winning an election that made her the first female, Black legislator in Vermont, Kiah Morris said she was quitting the job because of racist threats, including from one Twitter user who threatened to stalk her at rallies.
Former Ohio health director Amy Acton, one of several female health officials across the U.S. who were subjected to threats online after recommending COVID-19 masking and stay-athome orders, resigned weeks after protesters showed up at her house armed with sexist, antisemitic signs.
A United Nations report released earlier this year that looked at Finland confirmed what many of those women already suspected: Female politicians, regardless of political affiliation, are subjected to 10 times more abusive messages on Twitter, including hate speech that sometimes suggested the women kill themselves. The online abuse, the U.N. concluded in its report, prevents democracies from being equally representative.
Jankowicz said Wednesday she won’t be “silenced” by the online harassment and it was not the final provocation that led to her resignation. But it had a similar effect. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas decided Tuesday to pause the work of the Disinformation Governance Board after such a negative reception and growing concerns that it was becoming a distraction for the department’s other work on disinformation, according to two department officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. The board’s pause led Jankowicz to quit Wednesday morning.
Conservative pundits, Twitter users and TV show hosts delivered a campaign of sexist attacks against Jankowicz. A Fox News personality questioned whether Jankowicz should have agreed to lead the board while pregnant.
“I was trying to do important work to protect Americans from a real threat,” Jankowicz said.