Eirliani Abdul Rahman

Eirliani Abdul Rahman, Anne Collier / Jan 31, 2025 Two years ago, as founding members of Twitter's Trust and Safety Council, we resigned after the release of independent research showing a sharp rise in slurs and insults against Black Americans, Jews, and gay men on the platform following Elon Musk's takeover and of thousands of engineers and content moderators. We had front-row seats to his slash-and-burn approach to efficiency.

Internet users may remember “Gamergate” in 2014: What began as a flaming blog post by a former partner targeting Zoë Quinn, a video game developer, exploded into a misogynistic online harassment campaign against women gamers. The harassers sent death and rape threats and engaged in “swatting,” the dangerous practice of making hoax phone calls to a target’s home, driving their female counterparts out of the industry.

OTI Fellow Eirliani Abdul Rahman was quoted in an article from The Information about X Global Government Affairs Head Nick Pickles, with Rahman offering her perspective on X’s concerning approach to the surge of abusive speech on the platform. Eirliani Abdul Rahman is a child-safety advocate who served as a member of Twitter’s external Trust and Safety Council from its founding in 2016.