Solo female tourist shared proof of her frightening encounter with a driver. Meta suspended her account instead

On July 6, Alice Chapman (@itsalicechapman), a journalist and professional hitchhiker who has traveled nearly 35,000 km, recounted an extremely disturbing incident while hitching a ride in a car. Well, the cab driver turned out to be a total monster who sexually assaulted her when they were in his vehicle. Originally, Chapman had posted video footage of the entire incident, but later, when Meta deleted it, she was forced to share a carousel of photos earlier this month. Her post has received over 19,500 likes on Instagram. 

Meta's controversial call 

Chapman did not repost the video but shared screenshots of it. She revealed that the man groped her, and luckily she caught it on camera as evidence. Despite the horrifying situation, the woman said she remained calm and got out of the car. "Posting the video was not easy. It showed me in an extremely vulnerable position, and to be honest, it felt more scary than putting that on the internet than getting assaulted in the first place," she confessed. However, once the video went viral, Meta removed it within 3 hours. The giant company not only removed Chapman's video, but they also blocked her from sending any direct messages for 3 days and banned her from live streaming for a year. While Meta claimed that it deleted the video to "protect" the community, Chapman questioned who they were really protecting. "The only person... who might have been at risk, or at a disadvantage, as a result of this video being posted is... the perpetrator," she added. 

Voice against misogyny

Chapman was obviously disheartened when her video was deleted. In fact, she said that it felt like her dignity was stolen. Moreover, the young lady said that she had posted the video to educate people about misogyny that people tend to dismiss because of a lack of evidence. Chapman confessed that she wanted to show that "male violence against women is very real." Moving on, she clarified that when Meta deleted her video, she felt as if they took the perpetrator's side. 

Risk of traveling solo

In 2018, a travel survey was conducted by Eric Mower + Associates to understand how women feel about traveling solo, as reported by CoStar. The research found that 80% have been scared about safety issues before planning for a trip. Similarly, 65% researched the safety of the destination before. In fact, considering so many instances of sexual harassment cases, 43% felt uncomfortable, and 24% felt unsafe just thinking about the risks of traveling solo. On the other hand, more than half (54%) revealed that the current events related to sexual harassment did not sway them from the decision to travel alone. Chapman falls under the latter. She concluded her post by writing, "I'd rather continue to take risks than live my whole life in fear and never have the good experiences either... I will not be prevented from doing something because of my gender."

'Thanks, Meta... for nothing'

As expected, the comment section was a mix of opinions. Some people blamed Chapman for hitchhiking alone as a woman, while others strongly believed that such men should be called out. People were also calling out Meta for deleting the video. @hitchhikingdiary wrote, "Men protecting men. Thanks Meta for nothing. Alice, you are an amazing woman, and we are super proud of you and how you handle this situation!" @gielmalual wrote, "I am so sorry that happens to you my friend. It is a shame that women are unsafe in the world we live in. Stay safe out there."

You can follow Alice Chapman (@itsalicechapman) on Instagram for more travel and lifestyle content.

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