A new campaign launched in South Africa is taking aim at the growing wave of online misogyny and technology-facilitated gender-based violence (tfGBV), and challenges young men to rethink what success, respect and legacy mean in the digital age.
The Build or Break campaign is led by the Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change (CABC) as part of UNESCO’s Social Media 4 Peace (SM4P) initiative funded by the European Union. It seeks to confront the culture of online abuse by addressing the harmful attitudes and behaviours that fuelling it.
Under the theme “Reclaiming Digital Spaces: Safety. Dignity. Equality.”, the campaign aims to encourage young men and boys to become part of the solution by promoting a vision of masculinity built on integrity, respect and positive influence. Launched at the beginning of April, the campaign has reached more than 600,000 social media users in its first three weeks online.
Technology-facilitated gender-based violence (tfGBV) is a growing threat online at the global level. Women and girls are frequently targeted through harassment, threats, sexual intimidation and misogynistic abuse across social media platforms. However, this behaviour doesn’t appear out of nowhere, for years, toxic and discriminatory content has been amplified by algorithms and rewarded with attention, influence and even monetization.
As destructive content reaches millions of young boys and men, the Build or Break campaign moves beyond awareness to address the deeper drivers of online abuse. The campaign focuses on prevention by speaking directly to young men who are most likely to perpetrate online abuse. Rather than blaming or shaming, the campaign introduces an aspirational message: violence and abuse are not signs of strength, but failures of character. It challenges the distorted idea of success that is often promoted online and reframes it around values such as dignity, equality and respect.
To reach young audiences authentically, the campaign uses popular music as its central storytelling device, and was conceptualized by Iron Heart, an agency focused on social change campaigns.
An original track and music video were created in collaboration with emerging artist Xtreem Makhayeni, a rapper, songwriter and musician from Orange Farm. The song speaks directly to young men in a voice that feels real and relatable, challenging toxic behaviour from within youth culture itself.
Social Media 4 Peace
The initiative is supported by UNESCO’s Social Media 4 Peace (SM4P) project which is funded by the European Union. Through SM4P, UNESCO is strengthening the resilience of societies to online harmful content, including disinformation and hate speech, while promoting and protecting freedom of expression and access to information. The project is currently being implemented in South Africa, Indonesia, Kenya, Iraq and Kyrgyzstan.
read more: https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/build-or-break-new-campaign-challenges-young-men-reject-online-misoginy-south-africa?hub=701
