Biden is giving Kamala Harris another job: VP will now lead an online harassment task force to expand her portfolio, which includes the boundary and voting rights
- Biden gives Harris another responsibility – leading a task force to combat online abuse and harassment
- Biden announces task force for Thursday and Harris holds first meeting
- Sloane Stephens, a black US tennis player who has faced racial abuse online, will attend Thursday’s performance with Harris
- A task force will be formed to address harassment, which disproportionately targets women and minorities
- Online harassment has taken on new meaning after mass shootings in Texas and New York that were preceded by racist comments online
- Harris also leads the defense of voting rights and the search for the root cause of migration
President Joe Biden has given Vice President Kamala Harris another job — she will lead a task force dedicated to tackling online abuse and harassment.
Biden will announce the White House Task Force to Combat Online Harassment and Abuse on Thursday, and Harris will formally launch it by hosting a roundtable in the afternoon.
The government said the task force would be created to “address online harms that disproportionately affect women, girls, people of color and LGBTQI+ people”.
It’s the latest assignment assigned to Harris, which has a slew of issues she’s leading for the Biden administration, including defending the right to vote and investigating the root cause of migration.
Harris has also taken the lead for the government in defending a woman’s reproductive rights and abortion rights after Politico released a draft Supreme Court Opinion that, if enacted, would have called Roe v. Wade would essentially undo — the landmark that affirmed a woman’s right to an abortion.
Online harassment and bullying has long been a problem in the country — Melania Trump has made combating it one of the three pillars of her Be Best initiative — but the issue has taken on a new urgency since the recent massacres in Texas and New York were predated by racist comments on social media.
“The tragic events in Buffalo and Uvalde have underscored a fact many Americans know all too well: the internet can fuel hate, misogyny and abuse with spillover effects that threaten our communities and safety offline,” one said White House Fact Sheet.
“Recent mass shootings have also underscored the links between online harassment, hate, misogyny and extremist acts. For example, the Uvalde shooter has a history of threatening girls online, but these violent, sexualised injuries and threats have been dismissed and ignored when reported,” the administration noted.
Attorney General Merrick Garland and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy will attend Thursday’s meeting with Harris, as will Sloane Stephens, a black US tennis player who has faced racial abuse online.
The Gender Equality Policy Council and the National Security Council will co-chair the task force. Other members include Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Health Xavier Becerra and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.
The task force is scheduled to develop recommendations over the next 180 days for the next steps the federal government can take to combat the problem, administration officials said at a pre-launch briefing.
Recommendations include increased support for survivors of online harassment and abuse; expanding research to better understand the impact and scope of the problem; improving prevention, including youth-focused prevention; and strengthening accountability for offenders and platforms, the White House said.
In the United States, one in three women under the age of 35 say they have been sexually harassed online, and more than half of LGBTQI+ people say they are the target of serious abuse online, the government found.
Sloane Stephens, a black US tennis player who has faced racist attacks online, will attend the launch of the Online Harassment Task Force on Thursday
Harris’ other responsibilities for the Biden administration included selling the child tax credit, working on broadband internet issues, helping Americans get their Covid vaccine, chairing the National Space Council and leading a pro-union task force.
The Vice President broke into the abortion rights debate with a fiery speech to Emily’s List, a pro-abortion group, shortly after the leak of the Supreme Court’s draft advisory opinion.
“How dare you tell a woman what she can and can’t do with her own body?” Ms. Harris said last month. “How dare they stop her from determining her own future? How dare they deny women their rights and freedoms?’