World Wide Web Inventor Tim Berners-Lee: The Internet Is Sexist

Sir. Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, thinks the web is “not working for women and girls.”

In an open letter to mark the web’s 31st birthday, the British inventor praised the “important progress” made on gender equality around the world, but said that “online harms” could set it back.

“I am seriously concerned that online harms facing women and girls – especially those of colour, from LGBTQ+ communities and other marginalised groups – threaten that progress.”

In 1990, while working at CERN, Berners-Lee created the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), the system of data communication that forms the backbone of the web. He also created the first web browser, and the first website.

Although he has not been seen as political figure, in recent years Berners-Lee has taken to reciting globalist and progressive talking-points about his own creation, including joining the panic about “fake news.”

His recent letter about “marginalised groups” is the latest in this trend. Heavy on intersectional feminist talking points and calls for diversity. It declares that “governments and companies must create all products, policies, and services based on data and feedback from women of all backgrounds.

His letter cites research stating that over half of young women have experienced “violence” online, including “threatening messages.” But it fails to explain how a threatening message is the same as violence, or what qualifies as a threatening message.

A Pew study of online abuse in 2017 found that men and women face online abuse at roughly equal rates, but that women report that they are more upset by it. In that study, slightly more men than women (12 percent to 8 percent) reported that they had been the targets of physical threats on the web.

Despite once warning about the power of a “few dominant platforms” that control what can be seen on the web, last year he teamed up with Facebook and Google in order to “fix” the internet and prevent “digital dystopia.”