Azmina Dhrodia

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Azmina Dhrodia
AzminaDhrodia.jpg
Born1985 (age 3940)
OccupationTechnology Policy and Human Rights Expert
Nationality Canadian

Azmina Dhrodia (born 1985) is a Canadian online safety and public policy expert based in London. Her work focuses on how technology and design decisions impact the safety and rights of women and marginalised communities online. She previously held roles at Amnesty International, the World Wide Web Foundation, and Bumble, and was named to the BBC’s 100 Women list in 2021. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Dhrodia was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1985. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of British Columbia and a Master of Science degree in Human Rights from the London School of Economics. [2]

Career

Dhrodia joined Amnesty International in 2010, working initially on gender, sexuality, and identity issues before focusing on the human rights impacts of digital technology. With Amnesty’s Technology and Human Rights Programme, she authored the 2018 report #ToxicTwitter: Violence and Abuse Against Women Online, which influenced public and policy debates on social media regulation from an intersectional human rights perspective. [3] She led qualitative and quantitative research into online abuse, including interviews with politicians, journalists, activists, authors, and game developers, and research highlighting disproportionate harassment experienced by Black women and other marginalised groups. [4]

From 2020 to 2021, Dhrodia was Senior Policy Manager at the World Wide Web Foundation, where she led multi-stakeholder collaborations focused on improving women’s safety online. Her work included the Tech Policy Design Lab initiative, which brought together governments, civil society, and major technology companies and resulted in public safety commitments announced at the UN Generation Equality Forum. [5]

From 2021 to 2024, Dhrodia served as Safety Policy Lead at Bumble, where she led the development of the company’s global safety and content policies, including guidelines on hate speech, sexual harassment, child safety, misinformation, bullying and abusive conduct, and physical and sexual violence. [6] She was a spokesperson on online safety issues in industry and media contexts. [7]

Dhrodia currently works as an independent consultant on online safety and digital rights. [8]

Media and commentary

Dhrodia’s research and commentary have been covered internationally by BBC News, The New York Times, The Guardian, Wired, Reuters, New Statesman, Stylist, CNET, and TechCrunch. [9] [10] [11] [12]

Recognition

References

  1. 1 2 "BBC 100 Women 2021: Who is on the list this year?". BBC News. 7 December 2021.
  2. "Azmina Dhrodia — BBC 100 Women". BBC News.
  3. "Twitter violates women's human rights, says Amnesty report". TechCrunch. 20 March 2018.
  4. "Women MPs abused online: What's being done?". BBC News. 30 June 2021.
  5. "Social networks pledge to tackle abuse of women online". The Guardian. 1 July 2021.
  6. "Love, tech and online abuse of women in the time of coronavirus". Reuters. 28 October 2020.
  7. "Bumble's cracking down on this very specific dating app discrimination ploy". CNET. 25 January 2023.
  8. "Women targeted by online abuse suffer panic attacks and trouble sleeping". Stylist. 4 December 2017.
  9. "Online harassment is killing us: Women on life on social media". The New York Times. 1 July 2021.
  10. "UN HeForShe: Abuse of women in games industry". Wired. 7 June 2018.
  11. "Social media and silencing effect: Why misogyny online is a human rights issue". New Statesman. 29 November 2017.
  12. "Event: Violence and abuse against women on social media platforms". ARTICLE 19.
  13. "UN Expert Working Group on Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence". UN Women.
Dhrodia on the right at the Open Rights Group Conference in November 2017 with Nighat Dad on the left and Maria Farrell centre ORGCon 17 Maria Farrell with Nighat Dad, Azmina Dhrodia.jpg
Dhrodia on the right at the Open Rights Group Conference in November 2017 with Nighat Dad on the left and Maria Farrell centre