Negative communication on digital media is a phenomena.
The usage of blogs, forums, and search engines is becoming increasingly popular in this era of social media and the continuous development of new technologies. In the virtual world, the public may communicate and exchange information, and their voices can be heard by more people. However, because anyone can become a participant and decision maker on the Internet, the identity of information publishers is uncertain and false, and all kinds of negative and vulgar information, such as the release of “sexual association” content, Internet bullying, and some violent conflicts even occur between people of different genders, faiths, and income levels (Hampton, 2018), polluting the network environment. A South Korean research institute collected and analyzed over 100,000 pieces of information on the causes of cyberbullying via 227 online channels, and the results revealed that the total type of cyberbullying accounted for 44%, including 32.3% of victims, 6.4% of perpetrators, and 5.3% of bystanders (Song, 2021). It’s clear that the ideology of cyber violence has become increasingly complicated, and it is likely to threaten the female population or young people.
This blog will examine the problem of the dissemination of vulgar bad information on the Internet from two main perspectives: spreading influence and preventing measures, and will offer some recommendations and strategies for improvement.
What are the worst consequences of the Internet hell distributing obscene content?
Women’s consumption and objectification raise the likelihood of online sexual assault.
Bullying, harassment, pornography, and other content widely disseminated on digital platforms are mostly “soft pornography,” which refers to content that contains provocation and temptation and provides people with “sexual associations,” such as “sexual relations” and “erotic symbols,” which have become the main selling points and marketing strategies of some online commercial entities. And, using cloud computing technology, network platforms can analyze users’ reading preferences based on their browsing history, resulting in targeted pushes of “soft porn” information, transforming digital platforms into “megaphones” for this dirty content, which is even more harmful than traditional pornography.
Cyber Hell: Exposing an Internet Horror | Official Trailer | Netflix. Retrieved from：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpceNxQASKw&t=59s
Internet penetration in 2020, South Korea “The Nth room” phenomenon all over the globe. The Nth Room case, described on digital platforms as an anonymous organization of “beasts in clothes,” involved the establishment of secret chat rooms on The social platform Telegram, where threatened women, including minors, were subjected to sexual slavery and illegally filmed videos and photos were shared. According to Korean media reports, the pornographic virtual space was created by an administrator with the username Godgod, who initially messaged potential victims on Twitter and sent them a link claiming that their private photos had been compromised. When the victim clicks on the link, their personal information is captured. One of the most notorious is “Doctor’s Room,” where administrators lure unwitting victims into high-paying modeling jobs with false ads, ask them to send suggestive photos and hand over personal information, and threaten to publish the victim’s photo and address if they don’t comply. And sexually exploitative images and videos of victims are sold to chat room users in exchange for cryptocurrency and membership fees. After the incident, a minor victim said that she suffered from depression and anxiety and was afraid to go out during the 40 videos she was threatened to make. (The case was featured in the Netflix true-crime documentary “Cyber Hell.”)
There is no shortage of sexist marketing efforts on social media, with numerous instances. For example, Jue – wei duck neck, a fast food retail chain, has constantly challenged the bounds of acceptable among Chinese netizens: It initially came to the notice of the media on November 1, 2017, when posters for a promotional event on its online store had seemingly indecent content. It depicts a lady laying in bed with her legs extended and a bra draped over her bed, with the marketing slogan “Do you want it?” just over the poster. “Tender, juicy, and fresh.” The banner was withdrawn two hours after it was uploaded since many netizens called it sexist and nasty. Most netizens assumed that the company had learnt its lesson after being chastised, however only two days later, another incorrect message was removed from Juewei’s official WeChat account. Its advertising phrase referenced to women’s menstruation, and the billboard depicted the mosaicked private regions of Michelangelo’s masterpiece (James, 2017).
Many netizens were appalled and offended by Juewei’s blatant sexism and sexual innuendo in the advertisements, and China Women’s News warned that “any effort to degrade, objectify, or consume women would be severely condemned and resisted by women.” The People’s Republic of China’s Advertising Law was also modified and changed in 2015 to make the advertising standards for brand parties more strict, and shall not contain obscene, pornographic, gambling, superstition, terror, violence, or other elements (WPIC, 2021).
Erodes youth’s mental world
More emphasis should be placed on the harm caused by network bad material to the young group. When it comes to Internet access, young people are younger. They are open to new experiences, but lack self-protection knowledge. The improper ideals, money, love, and marriage communicated by bad information will permeate the next generation, stifle young people’s spiritual growth, and influence their conduct. In 2007, a random sample of 1963 middle school students from one of the nation’s largest school systems investigated the relationship between cyberbullying, a non-traditional type of peer violence, and suicide ideation among teenagers (Hinduja, 2010). Teens who were victims or offenders of traditional or cyberbullying had greater suicide thoughts, according to the poll. Furthermore, victimization is more strongly associated to suicidal thoughts and conduct than offense. According to the findings, a suicide prevention and intervention component is crucial in a complete cyberbullying response program deployed in schools.
How to stop harmful content from spreading?
Platform supervision + government prevention + launch regulations
In the aftermath of The Nth Room case, 3,757 persons were arrested and 245 were imprisoned. Many South Koreans think that there are still gaps in internet regulations that do not properly safeguard the rights of women and children, and that criminal penalty is too weak. So, in 2020, the National Assembly modified and enacted a set of rules to avoid future sexual exploitation crimes like the N-room incident. Among these are increased jail terms and fines for purchasing and exploitation materials of minors and juveniles, as well as increased prison sentences and fines for other sexual offences. Furthermore, the Supreme Court decided to develop sentencing standards for internet sex offenses in order to gather public input. (2020, The Sogang Herald)
Network platforms are increasingly developing norms and upholding commitments in an already complicated digital media landscape. According to The Content Management of Media in China (Zhao, 2013), network information content providers must forbid the creation, replication, and dissemination of sexual innuendo, sexual provocation, and other sexual connotations, as well as the promotion of vulgarity and kitsch. may encourage young people to mimic risky behavior and transgress societal norms, as well as other negative characteristics of terrible material. Additionally, the main network platforms should tighten their severe restrictions, stop using offensive language and “sexual innuendo” to draw attention to incorrect ideas, improve the channels for filing complaints, and firmly limit access to offensive material.
Should the government have a larger role in increasing internet content censorship? Of course, they are already involved in this struggle, and government action to prohibit people from posting harmful information on all public platforms would aid in the removal of such stuff. If offensive remarks are not deleted within 24 hours in Germany, social media platforms may face fines of up to $60 million (Armstrong, 2021). As a result, the government’s action will demonstrate the public’s aversion to content and may have a substantial impact on the governing platform. Many, however, claim that this form of involvement violates the First Amendment, which protects free speech, religion, and the press. Although the First Amendment does not apply to private corporations, some members of the public think it is a fundamental right that should not be violated under any circumstances.
Conclusion
To summarize, the technology whipping phenomenon demonstrates that, while technological advances have provided individuals with more convenient lifestyles, issues such as market distortions, privacy violations, and the spread of online pornography demonstrate that there are many hidden and dangerous aspects of digital platforms. Online platforms should invest more in technological research and development, upgrade preventive and control mechanisms on a regular basis, and improve their capacity to recognize and filter pornographic content online, and the government should also improve oversight and control. This blog analyzes network vulgar communication material while also hoping that the general public will become more alert, master network security knowledge, and promote citizens’ rights and security on the Internet.
Reference list
Armstrong, Paul. (2021). “Why Facebook’s Content Moderation Needs To Be Moderated.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine. Retrieved 14 October 2021, from https://www.forbes.com/search/?q=Why%20Facebook%27s%20Content%20Moderation%20Needs%20To%20Be%20Moderated.%E2%80%9D&sh=5e920df3279f.
Hampton, K. N., & Wellman, B. (2018). Lost and Saved . . . Again: The Moral Panic about the Loss of Community Takes Hold of Social Media. Contemporary Sociology (Washington), 47(6), 643–651. https://doi.org/10.1177/0094306118805415
Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2010). Bullying, Cyberbullying, and Suicide. Archives of Suicide Research, 14(3), 206–221. https://doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2010.494133
Song, T.-M., & Song, J. (2021). Prediction of risk factors of cyberbullying-related words in Korea: Application of data mining using social big data. Telematics and Informatics, 58, 101524–. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2020.101524
The Sogang Herald. (2020). Internal Rader and Social focus: “Nth Room” Case: the Evolution of Digital Sex Crimes. Retrieved from https://sgherald.sogang.ac.kr/front/cmsboardview.do?siteId=sgherald&bbsConfigFK=3875&pkid=855804
WPIC. (2021). Blog：Using SEX in advertising in China. Retrieved from https://www.wpic.co/blog/sex-in-advertising-in-china/
Zhao, Y. (2013). The content management of media in China. International Journal of Digital Television, 4(3), 321–330. https://doi.org/10.1386/jdtv.4.3.321_1
