Rachel Riley has spoken out about the explicit abuse she receives from other users online, calling on social media bosses to do more to protect women on their platforms.
The Countdown star said the content she regularly receives in her DMs – which can range from explicit messages to unsolicited nude images, as well as pornography that has been digitally altered to include her image – “turned her stomach”.
“It really makes me not want to go into my DMs at all because it’s revolting. It’s astounding to know that strangers are sending porn – it empowers them to know that it’s gone to your inbox,” she said.
“On Instagram, anyone can privately send you something that should be illegal. If they did it on the street, they’d be arrested.”
Rachel continued: “For women in the public eye, receiving a constant stream of rude, inappropriate and even abusive messages to your DMs is unfortunately inevitable, and the fact that this happens away from public view makes it all the more intrusive.
“Instagram and other platforms have a duty to keep the women who use their sites safe, but at the moment there isn’t enough being done to protect them.”
As part of her work as an ambassador for the Centre For Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), Rachel and several other high-profile women took part in a study based around their social media, which suggested an “epidemic of misogynist abuse”.
“I just think all social media are not fit to regulate themselves, clearly,” she added. “They’ve got the technology to identify that this content is revolting, but these users still have the technology to send unsolicited images to you.
“Teenage girls could receive this stuff while no one else knows because it’s behind closed doors. It’s invasive and disgusting.”
Cindy Southworth, the head of women’s safety at Meta, the company who owns Instagram, said: “While we disagree with many of the CCDH’s conclusions, we do agree that the harassment of women is unacceptable. That’s why we don’t allow gender-based hate or any threat of sexual violence, and last year we announced stronger protections for female public figures.
“Messages from people you don’t follow go to a separate request inbox where you can either block or report the sender, or you can turn off message requests altogether. Calls from people you don’t know only go through if you accept their message request and we offer a way to filter abusive messages so you never have to see them.”
In recent years, Rachel has spoken out about the toll that various types of online abuse have taken on her.
Rachel has been in the public eye since 2009, when she succeeded Carol Vorderman as a presenter on Countdown.
In the years since, she has fronted The Gadget Show and Friday Night Football, as well as taking part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2013, where she met her husband Pasha Kovalev.
Some of the quotes in this article have been amended at the request of Rachel Riley’s management.