Rosie Jones has been on a bit of a rollercoaster of late.
The release of her documentary ‘Am I A R****d?’ sparked a huge backlash over the use of such a controversial term, generating debate on both sides.
Strong support for the documentary itself was also forthcoming, leaving her ‘overwhelmed and emotional’.
But for Rosie, the word is not simply the name of a project, but one of myriad ableist slurs she has had to deal with her whole life.
Born with ataxic cerebral palsy, the 33-year-old comedian has spoken candidly about the abuse she has faced every day – both in person and online.
‘I always use headphones when I’m out and about on my own because every single day of my life I get people laughing at me and shouting abuse, so I choose to drown it out,’ says Rosie, speaking to Metro.co.uk.
However, the advent of social media meant even in the safety of her own home Rosie couldn’t escape negative comments and abuse – until discovering Arwen, a company that uses artificial intelligence inspired by the late Caroline Flack to stop users seeing offensive comments on their feeds.
‘The same daily ableist abuse was happening to me on social media, and it was impossible to ignore,’ says Rosie, who is also an actress and writer. ‘You may see me always joking on screen, but off-screen trolls made my life miserable. I first experienced hatred online after my first TV appearance – then the tsunami wave of abuse came when I did Question Time.
‘They may only be words, but those words, some of the most awful things anyone could ever say to you, stay with you for years.
‘I discovered Arwen two years ago to filter out the horrific abuse and negative comments I was receiving. In that time, Arwen have blocked and protected me from over 400 harmful messages. I now feel much more reassured that I can be my authentic self on social media, and that my community can engage with me in a safe environment.’
Many would argue that social media should be a safe environment for all regardless, without the need for additional protection.
As we speak the Online Safety Bill is making its way through parliament, but has met with criticism on all sides for either going too far, or not far enough, in attempts to keep users safe online.
‘I think social media platforms themselves should also be doing a better job of policing the abuse disabled people face,’ says Rosie. ‘It’s also important for government-backed initiatives such as the Online Safety Bill to put more pressure on social media networks to remove illegal content, including the hate speech myself and the disabled community receive.’
Arwen: So how does it work?
The company states: ‘Arwen AI was founded in 2020 in response to the online abuse directed at the TV personality Caroline Flack, which contributed to her tragic death, and the concept was developed further during the Euro 2020 final, following the abuse directed at England footballers Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho after their penalty shootout misses.
‘Arwen AI works by using artificial intelligence to remove spam, hate and other unwanted content from social media. Its platform blends proprietary algorithms with algorithms hand-selected from the open market, to continually scan for 24 types of unwanted content, in 29 languages.
‘Each Arwen client has a tailored version of Arwen working for them, personalised to their values. Arwen score every comment instantly and when an item is found that breaks the client’s tolerances, it automatically hides it from the view of the community – all in under one second.’
Before using Arwen, Rosie found X, the artist formerly known as Twitter, to be the worst platform for abuse messages. As she notes, research has shown a significant increase in online hate speech since SpaceX and Tesla owner Elon Musk took over the platform in October.
‘Twitter was the worst for me,’ says Rosie. ‘When Joel [Bailey] from Arwen showed me the messages they’ve been protecting me from as part of the documentary, I decided to report one of the messages as I wanted Twitter to do something.
‘Ten minutes later, Twitter replied to me to flag that they didn’t find it to be in violation of the rules. It took me personally visiting Twitter HQ in protest for them to finally lock the account that wrote the abuse.
‘But what about all the other disabled people who report tweets? It’s unacceptable. Despite the R-word being used, I feel like if the tweet was racist or homophobic, it would get picked up straight away, and ableist abuse should be treated just as seriously.
‘Disability trolling is a problem no-one is talking about. I want to change that.’
If one person were able to fundamentally change the dystopian nightmare that social media can be, it’s easy to imagine Rosie is the person for the job – joy personified and clearly never one to shy away from a challenge.
Of course such a gargantuan task shouldn’t fall to just one person – nor should it be a problem in the first place.
And even before Arwen hid abusers from her view, Rosie knew better than to engage with those posting hateful content – the number one rule of social media is don’t feed the trolls.
But who hasn’t daydreamed about confronting them?
‘The logical part of me says “that’s their problem, don’t listen to them, don’t take it in”. But there is a big part of me that lets it get me down. And I’m just so angry that they can get away with it.
‘I think if I could speak to them directly, I would want to know who the trolls are and why they are picking on us.
‘And most importantly, what it would take to stop them.’
Thanks to Arwen AI, in one way Rosie has stopped them already. The anonymity of social media can bring out the worst in people, but she no longer has to see it.
And it is wonderfully ironic that artificial intelligence, which famously can’t do jokes, should help the career of one of Britain’s most famous comedians.
‘I’m very thankful to Arwen for helping to filter out this constant stream of abuse, as it was getting relentless,’ she says.
‘I nearly stopped comedy because of the trolling.’
‘The tide is turning’
Joel Bailey, co-founder and product & service director of UK social media moderating tool Arwen AI, on social media abuse
‘I personally found being involved in the documentary very moving. We started Arwen AI to help people like Rosie, so it’s been great to help her throw light on the scourge of online abuse.
‘Rosie shares our love for social media as a positive force, to connect people together.
‘However, the reality is that a significant minority of toxic users persist in making life hard for people – whether due to ableism, racism, physical shaming, homophobia – you name it.
‘But the tide is turning. We’re lucky to have customers, both individuals and brands, who have decided “enough is enough” and are embracing tools like Arwen to protect themselves and their communities.’
MORE : The backlash to Rosie Jones’ documentary title shouldn’t stop you from giving it a watch
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