Transcript
For writer Lani Wendt Young, online abuse on Facebook has happened daily.
"I had one man in particular who was quite upset with me writing to tell me that he was going to chop me up and drag my carcass behind his truck, cook me in an umu."
She says regular abuse first started two years ago, when she used her blog to speak out against laws in Samoa preventing gay parents from blessing their children.
The former Auckland resident regularly writes on contentious issues in conservative Samoa, including speaking out against child sexual abuse and in defence of LGBT rights.
In January she had a new abuser - a notorious but anonymous Samoan blog, which Ms Wendt Young says is run by multiple people.
With the blog's fans in tow, the stream of abuse became a torrent.
"People saying that, you know, I need to be put in jail and people will stick things in my mouth and other places to make me be quiet."
But when Ms Wendt Young reported the comments and messages to Facebook, she says they rarely took content down, complicated by the fact a lot of it is in the Samoan language.
"It's just been such a frustration - trying to report things to Facebook and to have them constantly coming back and saying 'this doesn't breach our community standards'. It's horrible. And every day you log on and you're afraid to log on because of new stuff that might be there."
She says New Zealand police also turned her away, saying there was nothing they could do.
She has since shut down her Facebook account, but abuse continues to trickle to her through other inlets like her husband's Facebook account.
Amnesty International research recently found almost a third of women in New Zealand reported abuse and harassment in online spaces.
The figures are even worse for women who are Pacific, Maori LGBT or part of other minority groups.
"What we've seen here in New Zealand and overseas is that women of colour tend to get a unique and sometimes increased level of abuse online."
Amnesty International NZ's Campaigns Director Meg de Ronde is pushing for an overhaul of New Zealand's digital communications act to improve protections for women.
She says the prevalence of Facebook and Twitter has worsened conditions for women facing abuse, with little oversight from the social media giants.
"Often you'll hear of people reporting abuse and then it's not removed when it should be or you'll hear of people reporting abuse and then that person is just able to open their account within another week or so.
A spokesperson for Facebook says the safety of its community is its top priority.
"We want people to be able to express themselves freely in a safe and secure environment. We're currently investigating comments directed at Lani, and will take action on those found to be in violation of our Community Standards."
But based on her experiences, Ms Wendt Young says Facebook is a big part of the problem when it comes to online enforcement.
"They just don't seem to have any accountability and I don't think that it's right that people can get away with the things that they say and do on Facebook. And Facebook has a big part to play and they're not living up to it."
She says the abusive comments have restricted her and her family's freedom and made her question what she can do.