Bullying, harassment, violent content, hate, porn and other problematic content circulates on digital platforms. Who should be responsible for stoping the spread of this content and how?

 Introduction

  With the rapid development of the Internet, many social platforms have been derived, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat are the most common ones in recent years. These social platforms help people share their daily life and build better communication bridges with their friends and family. Through the sharing of social platforms, the dissemination of information becomes more and more efficient and convenient. However, due to the lack of adequate regulation of these platforms, in recent years,  problematic content such as violent content, bullying, discrimination, porn, and rumors are circulated on those digital platforms. The efficient dissemination of information is the reason why such information is inundated on these platforms. Although these are open-minded platforms, people have free speech and the right to post what they want to post. But this information has a serious physical and psychological impact on the public, especially people who are under 18 and they are the most common group of people who are actively using social media. The dissemination of information that has an impact on the public has clearly constituted a crime. Due to the lack of supervision, the publishers and disseminators of such information will not get the punishment they deserve, thus encouraging them to continue their criminal actions. Therefore, someone has to be responsible for stopping that information to spread,  the government and the platform itself seem to be the ones responsible for it.

 Cyberbullying and Violent Content

Cyberbullying and Violent Content are the most common as well as harmful information that circulates on the internet platform because they all have a serious impact on teenagers, who are the main users of social media. Cyberbullying refers to the use of electronic devices such as mobile phones and computers to carry out bullying on online platforms. The most common of these include people sending or sharing negative and false content about others, such as personal information or content that will embarrass others, harmful bullying includes bullying or harassment by posting rumors, threats, sexual comments, personal information about the victim, or disparaging labels (i.e., hate speech), resulting in severe psychological trauma to others. The most common place for this cyberbullying is on the aforementioned social media, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. Especially among teenagers, cyberbullying is becoming more and more common. According to research in 2019, 16% of high school students in Australia have experienced cyberbullying by their friends or classmates. Victims of this cyberbullying may experience lower self-esteem, increased suicidal thoughts, and a variety of negative emotional responses, including fear, depression, anger, or depression (Hinduja, S.; Patchin, J. W. 2009). 

  Violent content refers to photos or videos that include blood, violence, and threatening content. Studies have shown that watching violent content can lead to anxiety, depression, and even violence. For teens, in particular, one study found that teens who had been exposed to violent videos or images were more anxious than those who had not. Most of this violent content is taken from games or movies, GTA (Grand Theft Auto) has been criticized since there are too many violent actions contained in this game. For example, the player can rob and beat anyone walking in the street, and guns can be obtained easily and used against the police. This has led many young people to immerse themselves in this virtual world where they can use violence without punishment. At the same time, a large number of such game images are uploaded to social media for propaganda, and some young people are influenced by these images, and they actually imitate what they do in the game world in the real world. While exposure to violence in youth increases the likelihood of violent and aggressive behavior in adulthood, another study found that exposure to violence at age 15 predicted a range of behaviors in adulthood, such as delinquency or hitting. (Vinney, C. 2020). “Studies have shown a consistent relationship between violent video game use and increases in aggressive behavior, aggressive perceptions, and aggressive feelings, as well as prosocial behavior, empathy, and decreased sensitivity to aggression (The Scotman, 2019)” Thus, content of cyberbullying and violence has to be strictly regulated by the government or the digital platform itself.

Government Intervention 

Government agencies, including departments and organizations that work for the Australian Government, should be responsible for stopping the spread of problematic content circulating across digital platforms (Aus. Gov, 2016). Cyber ​​police, referred to as cyber police, refers to the police in the government responsible for maintaining network security. The Australian government has stated the internet police are “responsible for detecting, preventing, disrupting and enforcing offenses such as harassment, and hate and violent content” (AFP). This suggests that government agencies have taken responsibility for helping to stop the spread of problematic content on digital platforms. The government is a legal institution that protects public rights. It’s their responsibility to adjust from the perspective of the public to regulate the legal provisions of citizens’ online behaviors. Regarding the issue of cyberbullying, there are already relevant laws in Australia to punish these acts. There are a number of different offenses that constitute a criminal offense under Australian law when using a mobile phone, email, or social networking site is used to harass or abuse a particular individual. Serious online harassment and bullying are crimes under the Penal Code Act 1995, punishable by up to three years in prison or a fine of more than $30,000. Certain crimes carry high maximum penalties (for example, using the phone or the Internet in a threatening or harassing manner, which carries a maximum sentence of 3 years; stalking or intimidating another person, which carries a maximum sentence of 5 years; sending electronic messages that threaten to kill or harm others. mail or post, up to 10 years in prison)(LY Lawyer, 2019). In order to respond to the issue of the spread of violence or any such problematic content, the online safety act in Australia allows for an investigation of serious adult Internet abuse as a civil matter. This means this act can help remove harmful content and take enforcement action, such as fines or penalties for those who posted those content. But the police may go further, by investigating whether a criminal offense has been committed(Esafety.gov.au). Although there is a lot of opposition to government involvement in social media because of democratic issues. However, government regulation of the Internet in the form of law will definitely become a success since penalty enforcement is always a deterrent, and is absolutely necessary for the public.

Platform Intervention

The social platform itself also has the responsibility to stop the spread of problematic information and criminal behaviors. Because they built the platform, their users are helping them make profits every day. So they have the greatest responsibility to protect their users from being harmed whether from cyberbullying or problematic content such as violent or pornographic etc. It is true that the platform adopts relevant policies for these problems. They have formal written documents to inform users of what content is not acceptable. If there are users who violate the rules, their accounts will be canceled. While new technologies like machine learning and automated application can identify this violated content as well as criminal activities (Flew, 2019, p.40). However, both strategy has a very weak effect. The person who got their account canceled is able to recreate a new one, also the technology isn’t able to detect the problematic content precisely every time. Also even if these contents can be automatically deleted by technology, more of this information will continue to be published. Therefore, social media companies’ cooperation with governments could increase the potential to stop misbehavior content. The European Commission has begun working with social media platforms to develop a monitoring platform for posts containing illegal content (Cusumano, 2021, p.1273). In Australia,  the Crime Code Amendment Act requires platforms to notify the Australian government when they find content that violates the act (Doyle, 2022, p. 120).

Conclusion

Whether it is the government, the platform itself, or the individual has a responsibility to stop this from happening. Governments and platforms need to work together to develop the most appropriate system for combating these illegal content and behaviors. On a personal level, you should try to avoid browsing these contents, and if you find any problems, you should report them to the relevant departments in time to eliminate them. Collaboration between the three is the key to a healthy and well-functioning internet environment.

Reference:

1. Hinduja, S.; Patchin, J. W. (2009). Bullying beyond the schoolyard: Preventing and responding to cyberbullying. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. ISBN 978-1-4129-6689-4.
2. What is Cyberbullying. (n.d.). StopBullying.gov. https://zh.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it
3. Cyberbullying – Law and Legal Definitions US Legal
4. Vinney, C. (2022, June 23). What Is the Impact of Violent Media on Mental Health? Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-impact-of-violent-media-on-mental-health-5270512
5. Playing Grand Theft Auto ‘linked to aggression’. (n.d.). Home | The Scotsman. https://www.scotsman.com/news/world/playing-grand-theft-auto-linked-aggression-1497572
6. Cyber-Bullying Crime in Australia | LY Lawyers. (n.d.). LY Lawyers.