From Gamergate to just generally cyberbullying, online harassment is ever present. But, how do we deal with it? And who is responsible?
The current methods for dealing with online abuse is called “counter-speech.” Sarah Green of the End Violence Against Women Coalition said:
“Any moves by social media companies to support, encourage and empower individuals and groups to resist and counter abuse is very welcome.”
“But we can’t say that’s the whole answer – we wouldn’t say that harassment and assault of women in the street should simply be dealt with by victims fighting back. We need to keep reviewing whether there is an adequate legal and policing response, and whether social media companies are doing enough through their own policies and practices towards perpetrators of abuse as well as victims.”
That’s the thing, people can try and fight back online, but it gets dangerous.
There’s a girl in Texas whose entire family is terrified. Her father actually misses work to try and keep his family safe. Unfortunately, the laws on when cyberbullying becomes a crime are fuzzy. Even though hate-speech is awful, it’s still protected by the First Amendment.
Users can help themselves by using certain available tools. Facebook has a new bullying prevention page. It offers information for kids and adults on how to help.
Twitter has a ticket system for reporting abusive users. Twitter also has an article about online abuse with advice for those being bullied.
While it’s nice that these tools exist, it would be great to know how much effort these tech companies put into fighting abuse. According to The Guardian:
“Twitter, Google and Facebook refuse to publish information on how many agents they employ to investigate reports of abuse; the scale and type of reports they receive; or the level of satisfaction of complainants.”
A British Government Adviser, John Carr, said:
“There is a fundamental problem in this whole area and that is the complete lack of information about what is actually happening on these major platforms. These companies have become the 21st-century public utilities. It would be completely unacceptable for an electricity or water company or the police to say ‘we cannot give out that information’.”
“They need to be more open and straightforward about what the scale of the problem is, and their response to it. We do need more community engagement but we want to know what the companies themselves are doing and they are refusing to release that information.”
Just last month, a study was released in Australia that stated online harassment, or cyberbullying, was at risk of becoming “an established norm in our digital society.” So we’re at a point where it’s just assumed online harassment is just a way of life.
I shouldn’t have to be afraid of speaking out. I shouldn’t have to worry about my child being bullied online, and I shouldn’t have to carry the whole burden for protecting us. But at what point does protection go to censorship? This is a very 21st-Century problem, with no easy solution.
Image from Getty/Joe Raedle
