Jezebel employees are speaking out regarding anonymous readers leaving “rape gifs” in the comments sections of their posts.
A memo from on the behalf of employees who are seeking support from their parent company Gawker Media detailed how the issues with the violent images have escalated for months.
According to Jezebel, Gawker Media does not collect IP address from their users, which means there is no way to block burner accounts who constantly post “rape gifs.” Moderators can delete individual posts, but can’t block the user from leaving comments on the website.
“For months, an individual or individuals has been using anonymous, untraceable burner accounts to post gifs of violent pornography in the discussion section of stories on Jezebel,” the memo stated. “The images arrive in a barrage, and the only way to get rid of them from the website is if a staffer individually dismisses the comments and manually bans the commenter.
Re: Jezebel. 1. They rule. 2. I've dropped the ball and they're right to call me out. 3. I don't have a solution yet but that's my problem.
— Joel Johnson (@joeljohnson) August 11, 2014
“But because IP addresses aren't recorded on burner accounts, literally nothing is stopping this individual or individuals from immediately signing up for another, and posting another wave of violent images… This weekend, the user or users have escalated to gory images of bloody injuries emblazoned with the Jezebel logo. It's like playing whack-a-mole with a sociopathic Hydra.”
Jezebel claims the disturbing images have been shared with higher ups in Gawker’s editorial department, but the company told them there were no plans to block IP addresses. The main concern about collecting IP address is it would reveal the identity of anonymous tipsters who provide news for the website.
Joel Johnson, Gawker Media’s editorial director, took to his Twitter account to address the memo from Jezebel, claiming the employees had every right to post their concerns on the website.
“Re: Jezebel. 1. They rule. 2. I've dropped the ball and they're right to call me out. 3. I don't have a solution yet but that's my problem,” Johnson said.
Read Jezebel’s full memo regarding the violent pornographic images shared by anonymous commentators here.
