Posted on November 8, 2021
Join three free online training sessions with Hollaback!
Our grantee Hollaback! works to end harassment in all its forms by transforming the culture that perpetuates hate and harassment. Last month, CREDO members voted to donate over $42,000 to help the organization build the power of everyday people to create safe and welcoming environments for all.
This month, Hollaback would like to invite CREDO members to join one, two or three free virtual trainings covering street harassment, bystander intervention and implicit bias. These trainings are a great way to learn some concrete tools and techniques to protect yourself and your communities from harassment and bias.
Here’s more information from Hollaback about each session with links to sign up today:
Stand Up Against Street Harassment
Wednesday, November 10, 2021 at 5PM ET / 2PM PT
We all have a responsibility to do something when we see street harassment happening, but too often we freeze. We don’t know what to do. Bystander intervention gives us tools to intervene without compromising our own safety. During this training you’ll learn a clear, adaptable, and expert-approved set of tools that have been proven to reduce the prevalence of street harassment. Then, we’ll talk about what to do if you experience harassment and give you tools to safely get your power back.
8 Strategies to Mitigate Implicit Bias Training
Tuesday, November 16, 2021 at 2PM ET / 11AM PT
Everyone holds implicit biases. That doesn’t make us “bad people,” it just means that we have work to do. This one-hour, interactive training will teach you how to understand and begin to mitigate your own implicit biases using 8 proven strategies.
Bystander Intervention to Support Latinx Communities in Public Spaces Training
Tuesday, November 30, 2021 at 1PM ET / 10AM PT
In honor of Latino Heritage Month and to bring awareness to the increase of harassment toward the Latinx community in recent years, Hollaback! is offering a free, one-hour, interactive training to train people on how to safely intervene when they witness Latinx people experiencing harassment in public using Hollaback!’s 5D’s of bystander intervention.
Posted on November 4, 2021
Vote for Amnesty International, Earthworks and National Domestic Workers Alliance this November
Every month, CREDO members vote to distribute our monthly donation to three incredible progressive causes – and every vote makes a difference. This November, you can support human rights, climate justice, workers’ rights by voting to fund Amnesty International, Earthworks, and National Domestic Workers Alliance.
Amnesty International
For over six decades, Amnesty International has been the premier grassroots organization demanding human rights for every person. Combined with Amnesty’s research, its supporters —over 10 million globally—advocate in their communities and beyond to ensure that all people can claim the full spectrum of their human rights and to amplify the voices of human rights defenders and individuals at risk everywhere.
Funding from CREDO members will help Amnesty International to expand its membership as much as possible so as to have the greatest possible impact on human rights advocacy.
Earthworks
Earthworks partners with frontline activists fighting fossil fuels and dirty mining. Earthworks’ optical gas imaging cameras show methane’s role in accelerating the climate crisis. The organization advocates for a clean energy transition and sustainable minerals economy.
CREDO support will help build a more diverse climate movement that centers the voices of frontline communities and the grassroots. Together, we can move away from fossil fuels to a renewable energy future that doesn’t rely on dirty mining.
National Domestic Workers Alliance
NDWA organizes to win respect, recognition, and labor rights and protections for the more than 2.2 million nannies, house cleaners, and homecare workers—mostly immigrants and women of color—who do the essential work of caring for our loved ones and our homes.
Funding from CREDO will help us organize to meet the challenges of this crucial time when we have the opportunity to raise standards and change the lives of 2.2 million domestic workers across the country.
Your vote this month will determine how we divide our monthly donation among these three progressive groups. Be sure to cast your vote to support one, two or all three by November 30.
CREDO members who use our products and services everyday are the reason we are able to make these donations each month. Learn more about CREDO Mobile and CREDO Energy and join our movement.
Posted on November 4, 2021
How to store your vaccine record on your smartphone
If you’re like us, you got vaccinated. That’s great!
But now what do you do with that awkwardly-sized piece of paper you need to enter public venues, businesses or even your workplace? Not to mention, what happens if you lose the card? What a hassle.
Never fear: The safest and easiest way to save your vaccination record is storing it on your smartphone. In this week’s tip, we’ll show you how to keep your vaccine card safe at home and handy in your pocket.
To start, let’s go over what professionals recommend you should not do with your paper vaccination card.
First, do not laminate it. You may need the card for your next dose or booster, so let the card breathe or purchase a plastic sleeve to keep it safe.
Second, don’t post it to social media, since the card contains sensitive personal and health information.
Lastly, try not to carry the card with you all the time, since you risk losing it (although your state health department should be able to provide you with a backup).
Now, here’s how you can save your vaccine record to your smartphone:
Take a photo
There are many ways to save your vaccination record to your phone. The easiest way is to use your phone’s camera app to take a photo of the card itself. The CDC recommends this method in the event you lose your card.
Make sure you place your card on a flat surface in a well-lit area. Crop the image to the four corners of the card, then save the image to your phone. You may want to consider creating an album named “Records” so you can easily access the photo when it’s time. Apple users may want to ensure the file is backed up to iCloud, while Android users can back it up to Google Drive.
Note that this is probably the least secure method of backing up your vaccination record, so if you have any concerns about your health privacy, you can skip to the next step.
iPhone users: Securely scan in Notes app
If you own an iPhone, you can also scan your vaccine card in the Notes app and securely save it so that only you can access the record. Here’s how:
- Open the Notes app & create a new Note.
- Tap the camera icon & choose Scan Documents.
- Position the camera over the card & your phone should automatically take the picture. If not, tap the shutter button, tap Keep Scan, then tap Save.
- To secure the Note, tap the three dots and choose Lock. You will need to enter a password & you can enable Touch ID or Face ID as well.
Use a passport app or service
Depending on your situation, an image of your vaccine record on your phone might not be enough or appropriate, so that’s where a dedicated app or service to store a digital vaccine record is very useful. Many states are rolling out their own vaccine passport services, and you can even save your records to your Apple Wallet and Google Pay apps.
Bear with us, because there is a little fuss involved, but it’s worth the extra few steps, especially if you’re required to show proof of vaccination status often or digitally.
To get started, you’ll need a digital version of your vaccination record. Depending on where you live, your state may already have an app. Only a handful of states currently offer these services. For example, New York State uses the Excelsior Pass, and New York City uses NYC COVID Safe (iOS & Android) while California will send you a QR code and digital copy of your vaccine record. Other states have apps or digital records available through Smart Health Cards and the CommonTrust Network, which include:
- Arizona
- California
- Hawaii
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Mississippi
- North Dakota
- New York
- Virginia
- Washington
- Washington, D.C.
- West Virginia
If your state doesn’t offer its own app, your health provider or pharmacy, like CVS or Walgreens, may also participate in a program like Smart Health Cards. You can see a full list here. You may need to log into your account with your pharmacy or health provider or call to request the digital vaccine record.
Still unable to obtain a digital record? You have other options to create a digital version of your vaccine record. Services like Clear and VaxYes can validate your identity and vaccination status and provide you with a digital vaccine record which you can store on your device.
Add your vaccination record to Apple Wallet
Adding your digital vaccination record to your payment wallets on your phone makes it really easy to pull up your vaccine status quickly when you’re on the go.
Apple’s recent release of iOS 15.1 now allows iPhone users to add their vaccination records to the Health App, making it very easy to add to your Apple Wallet. If you received a QR code or downloadable record from your vaccine provider or already have a verifiable vaccine record stored in your Health App, you can add it to your wallet. Here are some detailed instructions from Apple.
Add your COVID Card to your Android device
Android users can similarly add their vaccine records to their device, but your provider will need to send you a digital record of your vaccination via QR code or downloadable record, just like Apple users.
Make sure your device is running Android 5 or above and be Play Protect certified. Google provides very detailed instructions on adding your vaccination records to your device here.
Posted on November 1, 2021
How does CREDO’s donations program work?
For more than 35 years, CREDO’s fundamental mission has been to make positive social change. We do that by not only giving our members the opportunity to do business with a company that shares their values, we also donate to progressive nonprofits each month, totaling $1 million each year.
It’s been more successful than we ever thought possible. Since 1985, we’ve been able to donate more than $93 million to nonprofit groups fighting for climate justice, civil rights, economic justice and so much more. But we always get the question: How is CREDO able to donate tens of thousands of dollars every month to groups that share our values at no extra cost to our members? Here’s an inside look at how it all works.
Every CREDO member is a philanthropist
Whenever someone joins CREDO and uses our products or services they become a philanthropist to the progressive causes we all care about. Just by using CREDO services, each one of our members contributes to our mission of progressive social action, at no extra cost to them. Here’s how:
Our monthly donations to nonprofit groups are generated primarily from our company revenue and are one of our most powerful tools for change. Many CREDO Mobile members also make additional donations by rounding up their monthly bills by a few dollars to send extra support to the causes we fund. Then, at the end of each month, we distribute these donations to the three nonprofit groups we’re supporting that month.
Which groups does CREDO fund?
We fund progressive nonprofit groups that believe in our values and fight along with us for greater social change. We primarily fund organizations that fall generally within six broad categories: Civil Rights, Climate Justice, Peace, Women’s Rights, Economic Justice and Voting Rights. Some recent grantees include Sunrise Movement, Doctors without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières, Amnesty International, March For Our Lives, Brennan Center for Justice and Black Alliance for Just Immigration. We’re also proud to be one of Planned Parenthood’s largest corporate donors, having donated more than $3.7 million since 1986.
We let you vote how to distribute funding
Here’s what makes CREDO’s philanthropy truly special and different from other companies: We let you vote to decide how we distribute the donations among three nonprofit groups. It’s truly democratic. Each month, CREDO members, activists, supporters and the general public visit CREDODonations.com to vote for the group (or groups) they’d most like to see funded. Donations are then distributed according to their votes.
Monthly voting is open to anyone who wants to take a few seconds to vote on our ballot and direct funding to the progressive nonprofit(s) of their choice.
How nonprofit organizations are chosen
The groups we support are also chosen democratically. Throughout the year, CREDO customers, CREDO employees and members of the general public nominate nonprofit groups to receive donations funding. Additionally, the CREDO team invites organizations to apply to our Donations Program and also vets other potential organizations for our donations ballot. Each month, we present a handful of those organizations to all CREDO employees who then vote on the final three organizations that appear on our monthly ballot to receive a donation.
You can nominate a group for funding here.
You can vote now
Here’s your chance! If you’ve voted for a group in the past, you know how this works. If you haven’t, it’s very easy. Just visit CREDODonations.com and vote for one, two or all three nonprofit groups on our ballot to help us distribute funding to this month’s nonprofit grantees.
Posted on November 1, 2021
Our October grantees thank you for your support
Each month, CREDO members vote on how we distribute funding to three incredible nonprofits. Those small actions add up – with one click, you can help fund groups working for climate justice, ending harassment and women’s rights. In October, CREDO members voted to distribute our monthly donations to Earth Guardians, Hollaback!, and Supermajority.
These donations are made possible by CREDO customers and the revenue they generate by using our services. The distribution depends entirely on the votes of CREDO members like you. And for that, our October grant recipients thank you.
Earth Guardians
$58,520
“Thank you for your continued support and partnership! CREDO members like you help support over 200 youth both in the frontline and on the ground at community levels implement grass root campaigns that create a powerful change in their communities.” – Catherine Mongella, Executive Director – Earth Guardians
To learn more, visit www.earthguardians.org.
Hollaback!
$42,910
“Thank you for your support ending harassment – in all its forms. Supporters like you fuel free bystander intervention trainings, building education, action, and resilience in the face of harassment. Knowing you have our back makes all the difference.”
To learn more, visit https://www.ihollaback.org/.
Supermajority
$48,570
“Thank you for being an important part of our team! Together, we’re supporting women who are often excluded, overlooked, or dismissed from our democratic process with the tools, information, and community they need to exercise their civic power.” – Amanda Brown Lierman, Executive Director, Supermajority
To learn more, visit supermajority.com.
Now check out the three groups we are funding in November, and cast your vote to help distribute our donations.
CREDO members who use our products are the reason why we are able to make these donations each month. Learn more about CREDO Mobile, the carrier with a conscience.
Posted on October 27, 2021
5 eco-friendly ways to have a green Halloween this year
Halloween is quickly approaching — and we’re so excited! For many of us, this will be the first time in a while that we’ll get to put on scary costumes.
You know what else is scary about Halloween? The holiday’s impact on the environment — and it’s not just the candy wrappers and all the single use plastics. Your old jack-o’-lantern could be emitting potent greenhouse gasses, and your costumes are likely derived from fossil fuels.
But we don’t want to troll your party — so here are 5 eco-friendly ways to have a green and sustainable Halloween this year and reduce your impact on the planet.
Don’t throw away your pumpkin!
Whatever you do, don’t throw away your pumpkin in the trash, if you can. Each year, roughly 1.3 billion pounds of pumpkins end up in landfills, where they decompose and eventually emit methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide, according to the EPA.
So what can we do with all our leftover jack-o’-lanterns? Composting is one of the best ways to dispose of your pumpkin. Don’t have a compost bin or service? If you have a yard, you can actually bury your pumpkin in the ground (no, you really can!), and pumpkins also make great snacks for wildlife, especially deer.
If you don’t have the outdoor space, you can eat your pumpkin, too, especially the seeds. However, be mindful that most Halloween pumpkins are the Howden variety, which are bred for size and color, not taste, so choose your recipes wisely, like this one for curried pumpkin soup.
Hand out organic, fair trade and ethically-sourced candy
Candy is sweet, but the environmental fallout is bitter. Candy manufacturers require lots of sugar, palm oil and cocoa which contribute to deforestation around the world and add stress on endangered species. In addition, many large chocolate manufacturers continue to source cocoa harvested by child labor.
And then there’s all the non-recyclable packaging that comes with mass-market candy. Chances are, the candy wrappers your parents tossed out when you were a kid are still in a landfill somewhere, leaching toxins into the ground.
So this year, hand out fair trade, organic or ethically-sourced candy. You can find lots of brands online or at your local natural foods store.
Make your own costume – or thrift it
This year, Americans are expected to spend $3.3 billion on Halloween costumes. That’s a lot — but it also means a lot of waste, since many costumes are one-and-done, because they are cheaply made and probably won’t be worn again. A recent survey found that 83% of material in the costumes studied were made from plastic, which is derived from fossil fuels and contributes to climate change.
Worse, many plastic costumes contain hidden toxic chemicals like PVC, and many disposable costumes are made by workers who may endure human rights abuses or work under harsh conditions in factories overseas.
Instead, consider making your own costume. You can make one out of pieces you have around the house — or head over to your local thrift store. Many now have sections dedicated to Halloween in October. Another option is a costume rental shop. Most have a wide selection of elaborate Halloween costumes at this time of year.
If you’re painting your face or your kid’s face, be aware of the chemicals in the paints. According to one analysis, almost half of the paints examined contained at least one heavy metal. Some had up to four heavy metals.
Decorate sustainably
Halloween decorations are in very high demand this year. In fact, some big retailers have reported selling out of Halloween decorations almost immediately. So if you haven’t yet decorated, you can make your own decorations and help reduce your use of plastic products. Here are a couple ideas:
You can make a big black widow out of a (recyclable) black garbage bag stuffed with newspaper. A ghost from an old bedsheet. Gravestones from cardboard. And as always, reuse your decorations from year-to-year to reduce waste.
Here’s a crafting site with a bunch of ideas for eco-friendly decorations.
Skip the plastic trick-or-treat bag
If you or your little one are trick-or-treating safely in public this year, take one more step to stay safe and skip the disposable plastic bag or hard plastic pumpkin. A recent study by HealthyStuff.org found that some popular trick-or-treat bags and Halloween products contained toxic chemicals like bromides, polyvinyl chloride and phthalates, which are banned in children’s products.
Instead, use an old pillowcase or a reusable shopping bag to avoid these nasty chemicals.
Posted on October 21, 2021
How to enable parental controls for child-friendly use on iPhone and Android
With many kids back to school in-person, a lot of parents and caretakers have purchased new smartphones to stay in touch while their children are away.
But now they may be in a quandary, especially with dangerous TikTok challenges going viral: How can I limit my child’s screen time and keep them safe online?
We have a solution: Parental controls.
These controls allow you to set the appropriate amount of screen time and limit certain sites and apps to ensure your child’s health and safety. In this week’s tip, we’ll show you how to set it up.
With parental controls, you can limit the types of content, number of hours and more on your loved one’s device. There are many user-friendly apps in Google Play and the App Store that can enable a wide variety of settings, but the following tutorials explain how to use the built-in (free) parental controls that are included with your device and operating system.
How to use parental controls on an Apple device
To set up parental controls on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, you’ll first need to set up Screen Time on your child’s device:
- Go to Settings > Screen Time
- Tap Turn on Screen Time, then choose Continue on the next screen.
- Choose “This is my Child’s [device]” & follow the prompts until you get to Parent Passcode and enter a passcode. Re-enter the passcode to confirm. You may also need to enter your Apple ID login information, so you can reset the passcode at a later time.
- Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your passcode, then turn on Content & Privacy.
Now, you have many options to set content and privacy restrictions,, preventing purchases, limiting explicit content and scheduling Downtime, which allows you to choose which phone calls and apps that are available.
Set downtime and app limits
During downtime, only calls, messages, and apps you choose to allow are available. You can receive calls from contacts you’ve selected to allow communication with during downtime, and you can use apps you’ve chosen to allow at all times.
- Go to Settings > Screen Time > Downtime > Enable the slider next to Downtime
- Enter the start and end times > Then, tap Set Downtime.
- To set limits for categories of apps you want to manage, select the categories.
- To see all the categories, tap Show All Categories.
- Tap Set, enter an amount of time, then tap Set App Limit.
- Tap Continue, then enter a Screen Time passcode for managing your family member’s Screen Time settings.
Here are some more tutorials from Apple on how to set up additional features and restrictions:
- Prevent iTunes & App Store purchases
- Allow built-in apps and features
- Prevent explicit content and content ratings
- Prevent web content
- Restrict Siri web search
- Restrict Game Center
- Allow changes to privacy settings
- Allow changes to other settings and features
How to use parental controls on an Android device
On Android devices, the parental controls are found inside the Google Play app. Here’s how to get started, but please note that directions may vary depending on your device’s manufacturer and OS version::
- First, be sure you are using the device you’d like to enable parental control on.
- Then, go to the Google Play app & tap the profile icon at the top right
- Tap Settings > Family > Parental Controls
- To protect parental controls from tampering, set up a PIN that your child doesn’t know
- Now, you can select types of content and restrictions, including Apps & Games, Films, TV, Books & Music.
You can learn more about Google’s parental controls here.
Google Family Link
If you’re looking for additional controls, including limiting screen time and more detailed monitoring, another robust solution is Google Family Link, a free and easy-to-use app that allows you to create a family group and control or monitor a specific family member’s device usage, help guide them to appropriate content, set bedtimes and restrict or allow apps, websites, and other content.
To learn more and how to get started, visit the Google Family Link website.
Posted on October 18, 2021
How this Big Telecom company built Trump’s favorite propaganda network
Donald Trump’s favorite propaganda network peddles dangerous conspiracy theories and COVID misinformation, LGBTQ hate, election lies, and white supremacy. Fox News, right?
Actually, it’s One America News Network — which is so far-right that it makes Fox News look like Bernie Sanders — and the largest telecommunications company in the world has been behind it.
A stunning new report by Reuters found that this certain Big Telecom company “has been a crucial source of funds flowing into OAN, providing tens of millions of dollars in revenue.”
Can you guess which company — with a long and troubling history of funding right-wing causes — it could be?
You guessed it: AT&T.
Earlier this month, Reuters released its first of two special reports that found “ninety percent of OAN’s revenue came from a contract with AT&T-owned television platforms, including satellite broadcaster DirecTV, according to 2020 sworn testimony by an OAN accountant.”
Quoting from a deposition the outlet obtained, OAN founder and chief executive Robert Herring testified that AT&T executives “told us they wanted a conservative network…They only had one, which was Fox News, and they had seven others on the other [leftwing] side. When they said that, I jumped to it and built one.”
Last week, comedian John Oliver, host of Last Week Tonight on HBO, whose parent company is AT&T, took his corporate overlords to task, in this hilarious, but poignant segment:
If you’ve never watched OAN before — and we highly suggest that you don’t — you’ve missed out on a lot of hate, anti-semitism, conspiracy theories, baseless claims of voter fraud and a weird obsession with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. In addition, one OAN host called for mass executions of election officials and another called for shooting unhoused people.
As Media Matters Bobby Lewis recently wrote, “OAN and all of its lies would not exist, and could not survive, without AT&T’s blessing. Whatever the figure AT&T has paid to help keep OAN alive, the network has been using the airwaves to push toxic — and often dangerous — misinformation.”
It’s no wonder that this is Donald Trump’s favorite propaganda network, and we’re not surprised that AT&T would be behind a ultra-conservative propaganda network.
For years, we have been raising the alarm that AT&T has been funding conservative causes and right-wing politicians. We recently highlighted that AT&T is the top corporate funder of Texas lawmakers behind the state’s egregious abortion ban. And their millions in donations to insurrectionist members of Congress and state lawmakers who push racially-motivated voter suppression or anti-LGBTQ bills. And we’ll never forget the $2 million that AT&T donated to Donald Trump’s inauguration.
At CREDO, our customers never have to worry that we would fund a far-right propaganda network, Republican lawmakers or right-wing causes. We donate millions every year to progressive organizations working on economic justice, civil rights, climate justice and so much more. Since 1985, we’ve given hundreds of groups more than $92 million, thanks to our customers who use our products and services every day.
If you or someone you know is still an AT&T customer, consider what that phone bill is funding — and consider making the switch to the mobile phone carrier that shares your values. Visit CREDOMobile.com and find a phone and plan that’s right for you and your family.
Posted on October 14, 2021
How to enable Wi-Fi calling on your smartphone
CREDO is on the nation’s best network — there’s no dispute. But we all have those notorious spots in our homes or workplaces where cellular coverage isn’t perfect.
Fortunately, we’ve got you covered. With Wi-Fi calling, you can make and receive calls on a Wi-Fi connection with your existing device and phone number at no extra cost — and it may even improve your call quality at the same time.
In this week’s tip, we’ll walk you through how to enable Wi-Fi calling on your iPhone or Android device.
Before you begin activating your smartphone to use Wi-Fi calling, you must be connected to the CREDO cellular network as well as your home’s Wi-Fi connection and able to connect to the Internet. You will also need your home address, which is required by the FCC and may be used to aid response efforts when you place an emergency 911 call.
If you have a newer smartphone, your device is likely eligible for Wi-Fi calling. Check the settings on your smartphone and search if the Wi-Fi Calling feature is available. For older devices, you may also need to check with the manufacturer to see if HD Voice is available on your device.
How to enable Wi-Fi calling on your iPhone
- On your iPhone, go to Settings > Phone > Wi-Fi Calling
- Turn on Wi-Fi Calling on This iPhone switch.
- From the Enable Wi-Fi calling pop-up, tap Enable.
- You may receive a prompt to enter your Emergency 911 address
- Enter your address information and tap Done.
- From the Terms and Conditions screen, tap the circle to agree to the terms then tap Continue.
- If prompted with the ‘Edit Emergency Address’ pop-up, choose the preferred address then tap Save Changes.
- Ensure the ‘Wi-Fi calling on this iPhone‘ switch is set to on.
- Once active, Wi-Fi is displayed after CREDO in your iPhone’s status bar.
How to enable Wi-Fi calling on your Android device
Note: Instructions to enable Wi-Fi calling may differ depending on your device manufacturer and Android OS version.
- Tap your Phone app, then choose Settings
- Toggle on WiFi Calling
- Alternatively, this menu item may be found on some phones by going to Settings > Networks & Internet (or Connections) > Mobile network > Advanced > Wi-Fi Calling
- Accept the Terms & Conditions, then enter your home address if prompted.
If you run into any trouble, please call us at 800-411-0848, and our extraordinary and friendly customer service team can help.
Posted on October 13, 2021
CREDO funding is helping UltraViolet drive feminist cultural and political change
Through people power and strategic advocacy, our long-time allies at UltraViolet are working to improve the lives of women of all identities and backgrounds by disrupting patriarchy and creating a cost for sexism.
Since 2014, CREDO members have helped us donate $273,496, and the organization was most recently a March 2021 recipient of a $53,520 grant. Since receiving the grant, UltraViolet has achieved several victories in combating the spread of racist and misogynist disinformation and creating a world where all women can thrive.
Here are just a small sample of some of UltraViolet’s recent victories, which the CREDO grant made possible:
Combatting Sexist And Racist Disinformation By Holding Social Media Platforms Accountable For The Amplification And Proliferation Of Hate Speech And Racist And Misogynist Disinformation
Over the past few months, UltraViolet continued to build an inside-outside strategy in advocating against misogynist and racist disinformation and for deep policy changes on social media platforms. UltraViolet met several times with senior leadership at TikTok and Twitter to call out the platforms’ inconsistent policies and highlight UltraViolet’s and coalition partners’ demands.
Here’s just one example of how the organization has worked to hold Big Tech accountable:
At Twitter, UltraViolet now has a direct relationship with the Head of National Security, Democracy, and Civil Rights Public Policy, Americas. We secured a big win: After public pressure and months of one-on-one conversations with Twitter leadership, Twitter began testing a COVID-19 disinformation reporting function for users. UltraViolet and allies launched a petition calling on Twitter to create a COVID-19 disinformation reporting button in early August, and on August 17, Twitter rolled out a “misleading information reporting function.” Twitter users can now report misleading COVID-19 information, triggering Twitter’s internal content moderation system. UltraViolet is currently monitoring the effectiveness of the reporting button and will follow up with Twitter.
Advancing Survivor Justice And Working To End Violence Against Women And Girls
Survivors of sexual violence are demanding justice and calling for perpetrators to be held accountable, and UltraViolet is creating campaigns supporting survivors. They are leading a coalition to create a new, more fair, and more transparent process for political workplaces to address sexual abuse allegations, so that sexual predators are kept from positions of power in the first place.
UltraViolet was one of the first and leading organizations of the #MeToo movement to call for New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s resignation for his widespread sexual harassment and creating a toxic work environment. Since UltraViolet’s inception in 2012, they have always listened to and sided with survivors over powerful interests, which is why the organization called for Cuomo’s immediate removal from power despite the popular opinion that Cuomo couldn’t be forced out.
Throughout New York Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation of Cuomo, UltraViolet spearheaded the development of principles and processes for how such investigations should be conducted–so that they are transparent, trauma-informed, and fair to survivors–and published them in The Washington Post and shared them with the attorney general’s team.
After checking in with some of the survivors, UltraViolet made sure to let them know that it had their backs by flying two airplane banners in New York–one in Albany and another in the Hamptons–calling for Cuomo’s removal from power. The organization also delivered a letter with more than 500 signatures from New York survivors and kept the pressure on Cuomo by keeping this story in the news.
Bridget Todd, the group’s communications director, made an appearance on MSNBC, and Shaunna Thomas, its executive director, and Elisa Batista, its survivor justice campaign director, made appearances on the New York affiliates of ABC News, NBC News, and Univision (with the interview conducted in Spanish), discussing their work calling for accountability in cases of sexual abuse and harassment, including accountability for those in positions of power.
UltraViolet helped ignite an intersectional feminist awakening in the United States, and they are working to create lasting, impactful change and build a world beyond sexual violence, where all women can thrive. Following Cuomo’s resignation, Elisa published an op-ed on what true accountability means for survivors.
If you’d like to learn more about UltraViolet’s important work to combat racist and misogynist disinformation and create a more inclusive world that accurately represents all women, please visit their website, or follow them on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
