What is Cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying is defined that users are being against by other online netizens (Slonje et al., 2013, p.26), including harassing, threatening, intimidating, humiliating, and posting problematic content vias online platforms (Australian Government, 2021). Moreover, cyberbullying can happen on many online platforms, and when users post any post, comment, and speech on a live stream are all possible ways that bully other users (Australian Government, 2021).
According to the statistics from the digital lives of Aussie teens, there are approximately 44% of youngsters in Australia having negative experiences in cyberspace over the past six months, and there are 15% that users are threatened through online platforms (Australian Government, 2021).
Cyberbullying causes several social issues. Everyone including users, platforms, and public institutions should be responsible for stopping the spreading of cyberbullying content through technical functions as well as executing regulations that are formulated by both online platforms and public institutions (Helberger et al., 2018, p.1).
What Social Issues are Caused by Cyberbullying?
The primary social issue caused by cyberbullying is the increasing rate of suicide because they are ego-shattering self-esteem when meeting cyberbullying (Patchin et al., 2010), and it causes they would not to dare ask for help with solutions in case someone would laugh at them. Therefore, the rate of suicide is rising in recent years.
There are tragic examples of cyberbullying happening in society. First, Danial Perry, a seventeen-year-old teenager, was forced to take a sexual video, and uploading through Skype, and he was extorted by anonymous cyberwarriors to commit suicide (El Asam et al., 2016, p.131). Unfortunately, Danial Perry suicide finally because he was under public pressure (El Asam et al., 2016, p.131).
Internet security which is a technical function is necessary to be improved by platforms because anonymous users are uploading misinformation on their profiles. They are posting some criticizing comments under others’ posts because they are counterfeiting personal information to obfuscate the public, causing it is difficult to distinguish the authenticity of the network information. Therefore, the security in cyberspace should be more rigorously checked by platforms, especially in verifying the account users’ background information such as age and gender to prevent any calculated users to impersonate other users. When executing the improvement of security strictly by the platforms, it can strongly improve the anonymous users to post any message, and they need to be responsible for their actions under their account names.
Another case in point is also a seventeen-year-old adolescent named Ronan Hughes from Northern Ireland. He was asked to spread the bloody images, and he was blackmailed money by other users on social media because he spread the problematic content (El Asam et al., 2016, p.131). Ronan Hughes suicide finally because he was unable to pay a massive amount of money, and he was helpless when facing that many users were threatening him.
It is essential to make regulations by both online platforms and public institutions that limit problematic posts such as bloody, violent, and sexual content, prohibiting any message that is threatening other users’ physical security as well as privacy. Additionally, when some netizens send any minatory messages to other users, it should have a regulation to withdraw users’ account availability because of violating the rules. The purpose to establish the standard rules is to ensure all the posts on the platforms are suitable for all ranges of ages to create a friendly Internet environment.
“Tomkins Square Park, Apr 2010 – 17” by Ed Yourdon is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
How to Stop Spreading of the Unavailable Content?
All users, platforms, and public institutions should be responsible for stopping the spreading of problematic content (Helberger et al., 2018, p.1). The block and report are technical functions provided by every social platform (Snakenborg et al., 2011, p.93), such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. The block function is used for users that would not want to see any post under the accounts anymore because the accounts’ owners ever share unsuitable content. When the users use the block function, the online actions of the accounts’ owners are also limited, such as they are unable to message the users who block them. Additionally, users can utilize the report function to make an announcement to the platforms when other users post content that is making users feel uncomfortable, and official platforms’ operators will check the content. When they consider the post as problematic content after checking, they will automatically remove it. Having the block and report functions, users can report any possible problematic content and block the account users in order to have a safe Internet environment.
The regulations are formulated by the online platforms for users to follow the limitations. Take Instagram as an example, there are rules called Terms of Use to regulate that users have to be thirteen years old or older, they cannot post any sexual content, and they are prohibited to send any harassing, threatening, or impersonating messages to other Instagram users (Instagram, 2013). The most important one is that every user who uses Instagram should be responsible for every online activity by themselves (Instagram, 2013). Establishing the regulations by platforms is improving the online experience to be more sociable that decreases the rate of online bullying.
Public institutions are responsible to execute the punishment for the users who are cyberbullying other users, assisting victims in asking for help. According to the information from NSW Police Force, it illustrates that when victims are facing online bullying, they should save the evidence such as screenshotting the posts or comments (NSW Government, 2022). Reporting to NSW Police as soon as possible, police can track bulliers by telecommunications offenses (NSW Government, 2022). The government formulated the offenses to prevent the probability of the occurrence of cyberbullying.
“national bullying prevention month-stop cyberbullying” by iPredator is marked with CC0 1.0.
Conclusion
To sum up, cyberbullying is generally happened nowadays, and it causes the social issue that the rate of suicide keeps increasing. The technical functions on platforms are used to stop the spreading of online bullying by users since it is a well-developed Internet environment nowadays, and making the rules by both public institutions and platforms is preventing efficiently the occurrence rate of cyberbullying. Therefore, all online users, platforms, and public institutions are cooperative responsibility to create friendly cyberspace to stop spreading cyberbullying through the Internet.
Reference
Slonje, R., Smith, P. K., & Frisén, A. (2013). The nature of cyberbullying, and strategies for prevention. Computers in human behavior, 29(1), 26-32.
Australian Government. (2021). Cyberbullying.
https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/cyberbullying
Australian Government. (2021). The Digital lives of Aussie teens.
https://www.esafety.gov.au/research/digital-lives-aussie-teens
Helberger, N., Pierson, J., & Poell, T. (2018). Governing online platforms: From contested to cooperative responsibility. The information society, 34(1), 1-14.
Patchin, J. W., & Hinduja, S. (2010). Cyberbullying and self‐esteem. Journal of school health, 80(12), 614-621.
El Asam, A., & Samara, M. (2016). Cyberbullying and the law: A review of psychological and legal challenges. Computers in Human Behavior, 65, 127-141.
Snakenborg, J., Van Acker, R., & Gable, R. A. (2011). Cyberbullying: Prevention and intervention to protect our children and youth. Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth, 55(2), 88-95.
Instagram. (2013). Terms of Use.
https://www.instagram.com/about/legal/terms/before-january-19-2013/
NSW Government. (2022). Cyberbullying.
