John Oliver tackled online harassment on Sunday’s “Last Week Tonight.”
After opening the segment with an AOL ad from 1995 explaining the power and convenience of the internet, the HBO host shifted to explaining how that power and convenience can be used to harass women online.
“If you’re thinking, ‘Well, that doesn’t seem like that big of a problem,’ congratulations on your white penis,” the comedian said.
Female gamers, in particular, often find themselves under attack for expressing their opinions online, but it’s something that many women on the internet face. “It can potentially affect any woman who makes the mistake of having a thought in her mind and then vocalizing it online,” Oliver said.
The host then dove into the topic of revenge porn, ridiculing the police’s inability to combat it, the media’s coverage of it and the lack of protection provided by federal law.
Despite the potential protections provided by the “Intimate Privacy Protection Act of 2015” set to be introduced to Congress, Oliver called on companies like Twitter, Reddit and Google to be more diligent.
“Nowadays you can click a button and buy a book, meet your spouse or ruin someone’s life,” he said. “We all know the internet is an incredible tool, but like most tools it can be used as a weapon. And we’ve allowed things to get to a place where women can fear for their lives for something they’ve said online.”