Twitter kicks off International Women's Day early with #HereWeAre

Twitter doesn’t usually opt for advertisement, and more so, going for the antithesis of their very existence, a TVC! But they did with a prestigious Oscars spot titled #HereWeAre, kicking off International Womens Day slightly early.

#HereWeAre is Twitter’s message of strength and unity to women all over the world, no matter their color, ethnicity, body type and any other arbitrary differences between human beingsn, more specifically women.

Featuring a montage of female diversity to the tune of a poem written and recited by Denice Forhman, a well known poet, activist and advocate of women empowerment.

We stand with women around the world to make their voices heard and their presence known. To bring them front and center, today and every day. Join us as we say #HereWeAre pic.twitter.com/cN2Ik6bZU8

— Twitter (@Twitter) March 4, 2018

It goes, “I heard a woman becomes herself the first time she speaks without permission…..” and is an empowering and admirable poem but it backfires for Twitter itself considering it’s infamous tryst with harassment, abuse and other unsavoury attributes that women have to endure on the platform, attached to it.

That part did not go unnoticed, as many women took to Twitter to highlight the futility of it.

That @Twitter commercial was powerful, but also feels odd considering that I spent this past weekend being harassed by misogynist fat-shaming trolls, only be told that the Tweets didn’t violate their standards. Do better, Twitter, where it matters. #HereWeAre

— Rebecca Krevat (@RebeccaKrevat) March 5, 2018

Sure enough, the video and the message behind it is beautiful and particularly well made, although women are raising legitimate concerns over the rampant abuse meted out towards women by Twitter trolls.

RT if you’re a woman who has reported abuse/threats to @twitter and they told you they weren’t going to do anything about it. #HereWeAre

— Erin Matson (@erintothemax) March 5, 2018

twitter: "we stand with women and support making their voices and presence heard and known"

also twitter: *refuses to suspend people harassing women, threatening women, creating parody accounts to mock women, and suspends women who are mass-reported by trolls* #hereweare https://t.co/iwhnsd95wo

— diane alston (@dianelyssa) March 5, 2018

How about you spend the money you used on this ad to hire moderators to kick accounts that terrorize women off your platform?

How about you hire more engineers who aren’t men to build your platform so that you don’t have giant blind spots putting users at risk? #HereWeAre https://t.co/RBDtfYkKQY

— ella dawson (@brosandprose) March 5, 2018

Similar such complaints were directed at Twitter for not doing enough can be spotted under the #HereWeAre Twitter feed, and need to do more in light of several women empowerment movements gainin momentum all over the world.