Why can't I follow people?

By Brenda Zulu

If you attempt to follow an account and see a prompt that says You are unable to follow more people at this time, there are two likely scenarios:

• Your account may be locked. We may lock an account, which prohibits actions like following, if it appears to be compromised or if it is in violation of the Twitter Rules or Terms of Service. Read more about this here.
• You may have hit a follow limit. Twitter has imposed reasonable limits to help prevent system strain and to limit abuse. Read more about follow limits below.
• Twitter's technical follow limits:

1. Every account can follow 2,000 users total. Once you’ve followed 2,000 users, there are limits to the number of additional users you can follow. This number is different for each account and is based on your ratio of followers to following; this ratio is not published. Follow limits cannot be lifted by Twitter and everyone is subject to limits, even high profile and API accounts.
2. Every Twitter account is technically unable to follow more than 1,000 users per day, in addition to the account-based limits above. Please note that this is just a technical limit to prevent egregious abuse from spam accounts.
3. Accounts are also prohibited from aggressively following other users. Our Follow Limits and Best Practices Page has more information on Twitter’s following rules.

What to do if you've hit a follow limit:

If you've reached the account-based follow limit (2,000 users), you’ll need to wait until you yourself have more followers before you can follow additional users. Follow limits are system-wide; Support cannot remove or adjust your follow limits.

To follow one or two additional users, unfollow a few accounts you're currently following. Please note, however, that regularly following and unfollowing many accounts at a time is a violation of the Twitter Rules and can result in account suspension.

Why Twitter limits following behavior:

These limits help us improve site performance and reliability and help us make Twitter a nice place for everyone. We’ve included a more in-depth discussion of why we have follow limits in our Following rules and best practices article.

What to expect if you're "whitelisted":

Some API administrators have whitelist status so that their applications can function without hitting system limits for direct messages and API requests per hour. Whitelisting does not increase the follow limits and all accounts are subject to the same follow limits and rules. You can find information on our current update, DM, and API requests in our Twitter limits (API, updates, and following article.

UNESCO calls to combat online and offline violence against women and girls

By Brenda Zulu

 

© Shutterstock

73 percent of women have already been exposed to, or have experienced, some form of online violence. Online violence against women exists in many forms, including online harassment, public shaming, sexual assaults and induced suicides. In the European Union, 9 million women -some as young as 15 years old- have experienced online violence. In response to these worrying trends, the Broadband Commission Working Group on Gender launched today a report titled ‘Combatting Online Violence Against Women and Girls: A Worldwide Wake-Up Call.’

In a press release on 24th September 2015, the United Nations Broadband Commission’s Working Group on Gender released its report on combatting cyber violence against women at United Nations Headquarters in New York. UNESCO’s Director-General, Ms Irina Bokova, serves as Co-Vice Chair of the Broadband Commission alongside ITU Secretary-General, Mr Houlin Zhao. The report aims to mobilize the public and private sectors to establish concrete strategies aimed at confronting the threat posed by cyber-violence. 

“Violence against girls and women – offline as well as online – is an affront to individual dignity, a violation of human rights and a barrier to development. Cyber violence is complex – our action must be equally multi-dimensional” said UNESCO’s Director for Gender Equality, Ms Saniye Gülser Corat, on the occasion of the launch of the report.

The report highlights how online violence against women has caused the Internet to become a “chilling space” that permits anonymous cruelty and consequently impedes the freedom of women to participate in the uptake of broadband services. This has led to a call to reclaim and expand the freedoms offered by the Internet. 

The report emphasizes the need to address complacency and hostility towards the issue of cyber-violence. Despite the rapid spread of the Internet, law enforcement agencies have largely responded inappropriately to the threat of cyber violence against women. One in five female Internet users lives in countries where harassment and abuse of women online is extremely unlikely to be punished. In many countries, women are reluctant to report their victimization for fear of social repercussions. The report warns that without effective legal and social controls of online anti-social and criminal behaviors, online violence will continue to grow as a threat to women. The report sets out three key recommendations for establishing a global framework to counter online violence. These are:

• Sensitization – Preventing cyber violence against women through training, learning, campaigning and community development to promote changes in social attitudes and behavior,
• Safeguards – Implementing oversight and maintaining a responsible Internet infrastructure through technical solutions and more informed customer care practices, while ensuring the respect of other freedoms and rights,
• Sanctions – Develop and uphold laws, regulations and governance mechanisms to deter perpetrators from committing these acts. 

The report contends that the implementation and enforcement of these measures will ensure that women and girls have an equal platform to participate in online activities. The inclusion of gender equality as a stand-alone goal in the Post 2015 Sustainable Development Goals demonstrates the significance of gender equality as a developmental tool in itself. UNESCO therefore commends the report’s recommendations as a timely reminder of the importance of gender equality to sustainable development.

Links

• UNESCO and Gender Equality: Website