Yesterday was the 12 year anniversary of the very first tweet, and it’s fair to say that in the last decade the social media platform has reached monumental popularity. It’s become a space known for sharing opinions, communicating with people from all corners of the earth and making yourself heard.

However, there is no denying that Twitter can be a pretty brutal place for women. Many a story has graced the headline of how, when a woman’s tweet goes viral, hordes of men refuse to believe what she’s saying is true and subject her to criticism. And research has also found that female politicians are three times more likely to receive derogatory comments related to their gender than men.

Amnesty International has highlighted this, and much more, in a report that shows how Twitter is failing to support women who are being targeted by online abuse on the site.

The human rights organisation released its findings on Twitter’s 12th birthday (21 March) and has urged the brand to “take concrete steps to address and prevent violence and abuse against women on its platform.”

Twitter is a "toxic place for women" says Amnesty International