Aug 14 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms' ( META ) Instagram

failed to remove abusive comments aimed at female politicians

who are potential candidates for the 2024 U.S. elections,

according to a report by the non-profit Center for Countering

Digital Hate (CCDH) on Wednesday.

The report analyzed over half a million comments on

Instagram posts by five Democratic and five Republican women

politicians, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, former House

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Vice President and presidential candidate

Kamala Harris, Senator Marsha Blackburn and Representative

Marjorie Taylor Greene.

CCDH flagged over 20,000 comments as "toxic," with 1,000 of

these comments containing sexist and racist abuse, as well as

death and rape threats. Instagram left up 93% of the harmful

comments even after breaching the platform's standards.

Meta did not immediately respond to Reuters request for

comment on the report.

In its analysis of the 2020 U.S. election, the CCDH report

found that women of color were more likely to be targets of

sexist and racist abuse.

The rise of online abuse against women politicians has drawn

criticism from advocacy groups.

It also highlighted how social media algorithms that

prioritize emotional content and engagement can inadvertently

amplify this abuse, a feature that politicians often leverage to

boost their engagement rates.

This underscores the role social media platforms and their

algorithms play in the propagation of online abuse, a problem

that extends beyond the political sphere and affects millions of

users worldwide.

The report urged social media platforms to enforce their

safety guidelines more effectively and take decisive action

against targeted online abuse.