Votes and Vitriol: Online Abuse Targeting Women Candidates in the 2024 French Legislative Elections

The report finds that women candidates in the 2024 French legislative elections, particularly those from left-wing parties, faced widespread online gender-based violence (OGBV) and gendered disinformation on TikTok. This abuse often intersected with racism, classism, and religious discrimination. The analysis highlights TikTok's failure to effectively moderate this content, arguing that the platform's automated tools are insufficient and that its lack of action contradicts obligations under the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA). The report notes that such harassment can lead candidates to reduce their online activity, thereby undermining democratic participation.

• Women candidates in the 2024 French legislative campaign experienced widespread online gender-based violence (OGBV) and gendered disinformation, including sexual harassment, misogynistic slurs, and calls for violence. This abuse frequently targeted their appearance, perceived competence, and personal characteristics such as 'race,' class, and religion.
• Left-wing women candidates were disproportionately targeted by hatred compared to far-right candidates. Attacks were often exacerbated by their political stances on gender-based violence and the Israel-Hamas conflict, with much of the abuse originating from supporters of far-right parties.
• TikTok's moderation efforts are deemed insufficient, with automated tools failing to protect candidates. In the case of Sandrine Rousseau, TikTok applied a 'bullying prevention' label to a video, but the label served as an informative tool rather than a mechanism to remove the harmful comments.
• The prevalence of OGBV on TikTok is argued to be in contradiction with the platform's legal obligations under Articles 34 and 35 of the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), which require the mitigation of systemic risks during elections and the tackling of gender-based violence.
• Online harassment has a chilling effect on political participation; five of the nine candidates analyzed either reduced their engagement or stopped posting on TikTok during or after the campaign, though abuse continued on their profiles.

APA

Zaragoza, P., & Castillo, A. (2025). Votes and Vitriol: Online Abuse Targeting Women Candidates in the 2024 French Legislative Elections. Institute for Strategic Dialogue. https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Votes-and-Vitriol.pdf

Chicago

Zaragoza, Pauline, and Allison Castillo. Votes and Vitriol: Online Abuse Targeting Women Candidates in the 2024 French Legislative Elections. Institute for Strategic Dialogue, 2025. https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Votes-and-Vitriol.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Zaragoza |first1=Pauline |last2=Castillo |first2=Allison |title=Votes and Vitriol: Online Abuse Targeting Women Candidates in the 2024 French Legislative Elections |publisher=Institute for Strategic Dialogue |date=2025 |url=https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Votes-and-Vitriol.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{zaragoza2025votes, author = {Zaragoza, Pauline and Castillo, Allison}, title = {{Votes and Vitriol: Online Abuse Targeting Women Candidates in the 2024 French Legislative Elections}}, institution = {Institute for Strategic Dialogue}, year = {2025}, url = {https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Votes-and-Vitriol.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }