"Toxic platforms, broken planet: How online abuse of land and environmental defenders harms climate action" 16 July 2025

Facebook is the platform that the highest number of defenders say they have suffered abuse on....

Global Witness conducted a global survey – the first of its kind – to understand defenders’ experiences online.

92% of the land and environmental defenders who responded... say that they have experienced some form of online abuse or harassment as a result of their work....

75% of the respondents--- say they have experienced offline harm due to them protecting their home, environment and/or climate believe that the online harm "directly" or "somewhat" contributed to the offline harm...

82% of defenders who say they have suffered abuse online say that they have been abused on at least one of Meta’s three platforms...

Only 12% of the defenders who reported their abuse and harassment to platforms are satisfied with the response that they received from those platforms...

[Meanwhile], “91% of the defenders … believe digital platforms should do more to keep them and their communities safe....

Almost a quarter of the defenders... abuse say they are attacked on the basis of their sex, and almost a fifth say they are attacked on the basis of their gender identity...

35% of the defenders who experienced online abuse and harassment said that they had received offline threats of criminalisation, and 30% said they had actually been criminalised (e.g. arrested)...

It doesn’t need to be this way. Social media companies’ business models prioritise profit over user safety. They can and must do more to help protect these individuals by properly investing in algorithmic transparency, content moderation, and safety and integrity resourcing...

[Global Witness] gave Google, Meta, TikTok and X opportunity to comment on [the] main findings....

Meta directed us to their Safety Center and resources on bullying and harassment prevention, which include a "Hidden Words" feature which allows users to filter offensive comments and direct messages, and a "Limits" feature...

TikTok pointed us to their Community Guidelines on harassment and bullying and said that they do not allow harassing, degrading or bullying statements and behaviour. TikTok also said that between January and March 2025, 91% of the videos removed by TikTok for violating policies on harassment and bullying were removed proactively before they were reported...

The other companies declined to comment.