Dr. Cassandra Mudgway
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legallyfeminist.bsky.social
Dr. Cassandra Mudgway
@legallyfeminist.bsky.social
1.6K followers 1.9K following 1.2K posts
Am a Dr. Not the useful kind. Teach Evidence Law, International Human Rights, Gender & the Law at UC.
Researching online abuse, human rights, law. ASD-Dyspraxia 🌈
Instagram: @legally.feminist
Views are my own.
Posts Replies Media Videos
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
Here's the submission I made to Wellington City Council regarding the appointment of Cr Ray Chung as chair of the Review and Appointments subcommittee. #gendered #disinformation #nzpol
November 19, 2025 at 10:32 PM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
November 6, 2025 at 8:41 PM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
Yikes, what a screen grab
Former deputy police Commissioner running from reporters. Aught passing by an ad that says "your get out of jail free card" after pleading guilty.
November 6, 2025 at 5:26 AM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
Unable to post more than 4 images lol here's the last one!
It's not just about Tory whanau. This tactic is used globally to silence women in power. If we care about democracy, we need to recognize gendered disinformation and call it out.
October 31, 2025 at 8:42 PM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
Re sharing these posts for a reminder of what Ray Chung did and the impact of this kind of behaviour (from my instagram) #nzpol
What is gendered disinformation? And what Ray Chungs email about Mayor Tory Whanau is a textbook example. Gendered disinformation equals strategic lies targeting women. The information is both false and gendered these attacks focus on sexuality, morality and appearance to discredit women's credibility, leadership, or fitness for office. How it works. Fabricated sex scandals. Sexualised rumoura. Claims a woman is emotionally unstable and untrustworthy. The goal is to distract, humiliate and ultimately discourage women form running for or remaining in public roles. Ray Chung's email is gendered disinformation. He spread an unverified sex rumour. He used graphic dexual language. He implied the mayor was unfit to lead.
October 31, 2025 at 8:40 PM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
This is the standardised response you're likely to get. Sure, you cannot control the result of Ray Chung being re elected. But what is your plan to make women feel safer in politics in Wellington? Because you're not going to be subjected to racist misogynist abuse (out of sight /mind). #nzpol
Thank you for writing. As Mayor it is my duty to work with all the councillors Wellingtonians elected to make up the new council. The policy I campaigned for the mayoralty on was that every councillor would have a meaningful role to contribute to, and that is what I have done. I have been clear throughout my campaign and since the election that I condemn misogynistic abuse. Under my mayoralty it will not be tolerated.
October 31, 2025 at 8:06 PM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
BIG NEWS. The NZ Green Party have signed our open letter calling on bipartisan effort to regulate AI. Looking at you now @chrishipkins.bsky.social Luxon 👀 #nzpol

Regulateai.nz
October 25, 2025 at 11:51 PM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
Two members bills were pulled from the ballot box yesterday.
They both address some aspect of online safety.
Let's talk about the first bill:
the Deepfake (Digital Harm and Exploitation) Bill #nzpol
This Bill expands the criminal law to explicitly cover sexualised deepfakes. Specifically the Crimes Act and the Harmful Digital Communications Act definition of "intimate visual recordings". This definition applies to offences of creating, possessing, publishing, importing, exporting, selling, or posting online intimate visual recordings (without consent). The current definition does not clearly cover images that have been generated using AI tools like "nudifier" apps to look like a specific person in a state of undress or intimate setting. This is because the definition was drafted to address covert filming in 2006, and does not reflect what technology is like today. The proposed definition will include visual recordings (videos or images) that have been "created, synthesised or altered" without knowledge or consent of the subject. This will increase the scope of criminal liability not just to people who create/possess/post online AI generated deepfakes but any image that has been "altered". This leaves open the possibility of capturing the use of AI filters to alter an image to make the subject look makes, for example. This is a necessary change to the criminal law that fills a legal gap for victim-survivors who want a criminal justice response to humiliation, distress and intrusion upon their dignity, caused by unwanted deepfakes. But - this only addresses the tip of the image based sexual abuse iceberg. A study in 2023 reviewed deepfakes on the web and found approx. 98% of them were sexualised deepfakes of women and girls. Nudify apps are almost always trained using exclusively images of women and girls. The issue is not merely malicious use of AI tools, it is the gendered bias that is built into the their design and deployment. The lack of effective oversight of necessary guardrails to prevent misuse. The lack of enforcement when apps and websites allowing nonconsensual sexualised deepfakes en mass to continue and to be advertised across social media apps. Criminal law is a blunt tool unable to address systemic problems.
October 24, 2025 at 4:09 AM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
Oh OHHHHH your girl's going to be busy with reckons 👀 #nzpol
The members bills drawn were: ACT MPs criminalising deepfakes bill and National MPs age gating social media bill
October 23, 2025 at 12:41 AM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
Furious at the government, worried about the state of society, democracy and the planet, feel hopeless in the face of genocide - BUT at least I'm no longer clinically depressed. Small wins, whānau 🥰
October 21, 2025 at 7:06 AM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
On the one hand, I think it's really important men in politics call out this behaviour and go further to condemn it (more of this pls). On the other hand, actions speak louder than words. What did you do? #nzpol
October 11, 2025 at 8:12 AM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
I dunno. Still kind of pissed Little went for Wellington Mayor. Like, look at this. This is 2025 #nzpol
October 11, 2025 at 3:20 AM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
Tory Whanau’s final speech as Mayor (in part) called out the racist misogyny, and gendered disinformation that defined her term. The comments on FB had to be turned off. That's what online violence against women politicians looks like in real time. #nzpol
October 8, 2025 at 3:12 AM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
Yesterday, I was pleased to share the stage w my esteemed panelists talking about the application of human rights/bill of rights to emerging technology. We mostly talked about AI. I spoke about AI tools on social media and gendered violence. Sir Geoffrey Palmer said it was great! (Add that to my CV)
October 1, 2025 at 8:19 PM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
A YouTube channel used AI to simulate women begging for their lives, before being shot in the head. The channel was not removed until a journalist asked about it.
404 media headline "ai generated YouTube channel uploaded nothing but videos of women being shot" written by Emanuel Maiberg September 22 2025.
September 28, 2025 at 6:20 AM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
Every day there's a new reason to be ashamed and disgusted with our govt representatives.
September 26, 2025 at 11:41 PM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
Crochet project from August - September. My first baby blanket! (It's difficult to photograph 🫠) For a new family member joining us in 2026 👀
September 21, 2025 at 7:25 AM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
An overview of our open letter calling on Parliament to regulate AI (regulateai.nz). I disagree with the Govt's position that they'd look at gaps in the law when harm occurs. Gaps are clear right now, and they're not looking at closing them. #nzpol
www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/3608...
September 7, 2025 at 7:51 PM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
Vandalised hoardings are not isolated incidents, they sit w/n a broader ecosystem of gendered abuse (online & offline). Online harassment normalises dehumanising language; that language migrates offline. Perpetrators learn what they can get away with. #nzpol

www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3608...
August 27, 2025 at 8:33 AM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
Is the tide turning on online safety regulation in NZ??

Labour MP Reuben Davidson’s Members Bill appears to be an attempt to hold platforms accountable for harmful content. It borrows from UK & Australian laws. But how does it stack up?🤔🧵
#nzpol

www.thepost.co.nz/business/360...
Labour MP drafts alternative plan for internet regulation.
August 11, 2025 at 7:59 AM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
Have a theory 🤔 so I'm making OIA requests (and guessing it will be a long game). Watch this space.

(It's about abuse in state care claims for redress 👀)
In particular, I am seeking any documents or guidance that relate specifically to claims involving abuse that may be characterised as conversion practices (including attempts to suppress or change a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression) within state psychiatric facilities prior to 1993. I request any information that: Addresses how such claims are categorised or assessed in terms of severity, credibility, or impact; Discusses whether or how conversion practices are distinguished from other forms of abuse in the assessment process; Reflects any internal discussion or policy reasoning about the treatment of such claims compared to other abuse types. If any of the information is held by contractors or external advisors working on behalf of the Ministry, I request that this also be included.
August 1, 2025 at 2:47 AM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
Phew - I just got my submission in on time! I was chasing down the clock trying to get all my footnotes down (because I'm an academic!) Anyway, here's the executive summary of my sub to the Parliamentary Inquiry on Online Harm (if anyone was interested 😅) #nzpol
2. Executive Summary This submission responds to the Inquiry into the Harm Young New Zealanders Encounter Online. It draws on international human rights standards and research to recommend how Aotearoa New Zealand can better protect children, especially girls, from digital harm. Key points: • Children are rights-holders, not just victims. Under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child they have the right to privacy, safety, freedom of expression, and access to information. • Girls face specific online harms such as: Image-based sexual abuse, nonconsensual sexualised deepfakes, “nudify” apps, sextortion, harassment, cyberstalking and digital surveillance. • Current laws are not enough. The Harmful Digital Communications Act (HDCA): o Only responds after harm has occurred, and is a slow process o Focuses on individual cases, not systemic problems o Does not address newer threats like AI-generated abuse o Places no legal duties on platforms to prevent or mitigate harm • Voluntary industry codes (like the Online Safety Code) are not effective. o They lack enforcement, specific standards, and do not centre the rights of children or address gender-based violence. • New Zealand has human rights obligations under the CRC, CEDAW, and the ICCPR. o These include a duty to prevent violence, protect from discrimination, and ensure safety in digital environments. Recommendations: • Adopt a rights-based regulatory framework with enforceable duties on platforms • Introduce minimum online safety standards • Establish an independent online safety regulator • Revive the Safer Online Social Media Platforms Review • Ensure a focus on gender-based violence in all regulatory efforts
July 30, 2025 at 10:21 AM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
Another month, another select committee submission to draft #nzpol

www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
RNZ story Voting reforms a 'backward step' - Human Rights Commissioner Here we go again
July 30, 2025 at 12:22 AM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
I’m making a submission to Parliament’s online harm inquiry, calling for a rights-based response, focused on platform accountability and tackling root causes of harm.
Submissions are open till 11.59pm 30 July (this Weds!) Yours can help shape better protections. #nzpol
I’m Making a Submission on Online Harm — You Can Too Young people in Aotearoa are being harmed online, through bullying, exploitation, manipulation, and constant exposure to harmful content. This includes image based sexual abuse like deepfakes and revenge porn. Parliament is finally asking what Government, business, and society should do about it. If you’re a young internet user, parent, teacher, researcher, or just someone who cares — this is your chance to speak up. Submissions close 30 July 2025 at 11.59pm @legally.feminist Submissions are public — only your name is required. Share your experience or advice You don’t need to be an expert I’m making a submission based on my research into online harm — but you don’t need a PhD or a platform to contribute. If you care about how young people are treated online, your voice matters. It can take 5 minutes Questions? Email: ew@parliament.govt.nz @legally.feminist What I'm Saying in My Own Submission I'm writing from a human rights law perspective, focusing on: The rights of young people to safety, dignity, and freedom of expression online How international law can guide stronger, rights-based protections Why government action is required urgently I'll be recommending Platform Accountability guided by research and standards already implemented overseas Stronger protections for young people’s privacy and wellbeing A whole-of-society approach to tackle the root causes of harm I won’t be arguing for banning young people from platforms because that won't protect them from harm, it will open the door to mass surveillance @legally.feminist
July 28, 2025 at 7:24 AM
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
Not necessarily funny, but certainly common.
Comment from retired Judge David Harvey "problem is even when you critique Ardern’s decisions it is classified as misogyny"
July 27, 2025 at 9:17 PM