India, 27th October, 2015: Twitter users have used the platform to reach out to government agencies in times of crises, provide live reports during critical situations, and organise responses to the disasters. Inspired by how Indians have been harnessing the power of Twitter for public safety and activism, Safecity India (http://safecity.in/), is integrating Twitter’s platform for live, public conversations into their work towards empowering people in India to share their personal stories about public harassment.
The campaign commencing today will initially aid women in Delhi, Mumbai and Goa, with support from the police forces in these regions, gradually panning across India. To share their experiences of harassment in public spaces in these cities, users can Tweet to @SafecityIndia or use the #SafecityIndia hashtag. Users can also choose to maintain their privacy by submitting their stories via Twitter’s Direct Message feature instead of a public Tweet. Users will receive an automated response from the Safecity team, confirming that they have received their stories. The automated messages will also include useful information such as helpline numbers.
Safecity aims to contribute to the women safety cause by not only highlighting public harassment issues but also providing information for real-world solutions. With its active volunteers across the globe to review these #SafecityIndia stories, Safecity may also direct certain stories to relevant law enforcement agencies enabling them to take more relevant and timely action. Online crowdsourced maps, a customized dashboard, and automated responses will be provided for each city through this collaboration. Safecity will also share story trends and hotspots on an online map, which will serve as a safety guide for citizens and the local authorities.
Talking about the migration to Twitter’s platform, Elsa D’Silva, Managing Director & Co-Founder at Safecity said, “We started off almost three years back in a country where women are hesitant to share their experiences of sexual harassment and abuse. Today, we stand at a benchmark of over 6,000 stories from over 50 cities in India, Kenya and Nepal. Our movement will gain further momentum with a live, public and mobile platform like Twitter. We are confident that we will be able to encourage more women to come forward and break their silence, share their stories and inspire others to take action.”
Speaking about the association, Rishi Jaitly, Twitter’s VP of Media, Asia Pacific and Middle East, said, “At Twitter, we take pride in providing a platform to empower change, enable exchange of information, and foster dialogue between citizens, NGOs and governments to help improve our society. In this spirit, we are supporting Safecity India’s initiative to leverage real-time, public Tweets from our users to protect more women from harassment across the country.”
About Twitter’s safety initiatives
Creating a safer, more secure and enjoyable environment for our users is an abiding mission for us at Twitter. Partnering with expert groups enables us to get continuous feedback and insight on our safety mechanisms and build a safer environment for our users, always taking into consideration their needs. Our policies and safety mechanisms are informed by the feedback we receive from organizations that are experts in their fields, whether it’s protecting victims of abuse or empowering young people to create a safer environment. We are privileged to work with a wide range of organizations, including Safecity India. For more resources to learn about safety on Twitter and beyond, as well as Twitter’s tools and policies to address your safety, please visit our Safety Center at safety.twitter.com.
About Twitter:
Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) enables everyone to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers. The service can be accessed at Twitter.com, on a wide variety of mobile devices and via text message. Available in more than 35 languages, Twitter has more than 316 million monthly active users. For more information, visit discover.twitter.com or follow @TwitterIndia.