Five Democratic and five Republican female politicians-including Senator Elizabeth Warren, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris, Senator Marsha Blackburn, and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene-had their Instagram posts analysed for over half a million comments.

Over 20,000 comments were flagged as "toxic" by CCDH, and 1,000 of those remarks contained threats of rape and death along with sexist and racial invective. Even after going beyond the terms of service on the platform, Instagram retained 93% of the offensive remarks.

Meta responded to the report by stating that it offers tools for users to manage comments on their posts, such as the ability to remove objectionable words, phrases, or emojis. "We will examine the CCDH report and address any content that deviates from our guidelines," stated Cindy Southworth, Meta's head of women's safety.

The CCDH investigation discovered that women of colour were more likely to be the targets of sexist and racist abuse during its examination of the 2020 U.S. election. Advocacy groups have expressed disapproval about the increase in online harassment directed towards female lawmakers.

It also emphasised how politicians frequently make use of this feature to increase their engagement rates-social media algorithms that value emotional content and engagement might unintentionally magnify this abuse.

This emphasises how social media companies and their algorithms contribute to the spread of online abuse, a global issue that impacts millions of users and transcends the political arena. The research recommended social media companies adopt stronger enforcement measures against targeted online harassment and to better enforce their safety policies.