Advertising consultant Cindy Gallop, founder of the US division of advertising firm Bartie Bogle Hegarty, is leading calls for a day long Twitter boycott led by women until midnight tonight in a show of solidarity with actress Rose McGowan – who was handed a 12-hour suspension for tweeting a private phone number.
The day of inaction has been called in protest at the ‘silencing’ of female voices on the platform with Gallop leading the charge amidst heightened awareness of disparity between sexes in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment scandal.
As of midnight tonight, I'm doing this. I would really appreciate it if all my Twitter followers would too. #womenboycotttwitterpic.twitter.com/SSuMD4A9ff
— Cindy Gallop (@cindygallop) October 13, 2017
Many other prominent Twitter users have also led the call to abandon the platform for the day including celebrities such as Anna Paquin, John Cusack and McGowan's former co-star on the series Charmed, Alyssa Milano.
McGowan is one of Weinstein’s victims having settled a 1997 sexual harassment case for $100k but has recently come back to the fore with an allegation that Ben Affleck lied when he claimed to have no knowledge of Weinstein’s behavior.
At the time the truncated social platform insisted that “Twitter is proud to empower and support the voices on our platform, especially those that speak truth to power. We stand with the brave women and men who use Twitter to share their stories, and will work hard every day to improve our processes to protect those voices.”
This proved too little too late for many women (and men) however who rallied to the #WomenBoycottTwitter banner to share their displeasure.
Gallop is a long-standing proponent of gender and racial equality within the ad industry.
