Introduction
With the unprecedented development of Internet diversity, netizens have witnessed the emergence of various online platforms and software. The Internet has always been one of the most revolutionary and fastest growing technologies. The number of Internet users in the world increased from 413 million in 2000 to more than 3.4 billion in 2016, which verifies the popularity of the Internet all over the world (Roser, Ritchie & Esteban, 2015). People spend their time and energy on the Internet to convenient daily life and entertain themselves. Under this circumstance, increasing number of platforms are being created for people to use. With the increasing flood of network platforms, some network problems are gradually breeding in each platform, such as cyber bullying, network harassment, the spread of pornographic information and so on. These Internet problems appear more and more frequently in the process of people using the network, causing a certain degree of impact on people’s lives. Therefore, a question has been raised by the public: who should be responsible for stopping the spread of such negative content? And how do you stop it?
Cyberbullying (online harassment, online abuse…) refers to bullying on mobile phones, computers, and other digital devices, including sending or sharing negative, harmful, fake, or despicable content about others. Even spread others’ private information to cause embarrassment or humiliation to others (stopbullying.gov, 2022). In addition to bullying and harassment, another type of negative online content is the spread of information which attached to pornography, violence, and so on. This is also a means of harm to the network environment and users’ mental health. Thus, in the current network environment, it is important and necessary to monitor and limit the spread of these harmful content on the digital platforms.
Based on this question, different people have different viewpoint by standing on diverse aspects. Firstly, schools and parents should have the responsibility to teach their children not to hurt others at the beginning. According to the latest survey of 1000 Irish people commissioned by ESET Ireland and conducted by Amárach, most interviewees believe that the problem is the bullies and their parents, and 591 of these interviewees are already parents (Staff, 2015). Parents teach children the principles and rules of life, so when bullying occurs, parents should be the most effective way to stop it. Although parental control alone cannot eradicate the problem of online bullying, it certainly enables parents to take responsible actions to arrest online bullying before it triggers irreparable consequence or tragedy (Staff, 2015). According to 2019 Cyberbullying data (Patchin, 2019), about 37% of young people aged 12 to 17 have experienced online bully, and 30% of them have been bullied more than once. Teenagers, it turns out, are a vulnerable group online, and on a large scale. In this case, parents and schools, as the closest beings to them, should take a series of measures and behaviors to stop the occurrence of these behaviors. For example, parents should ask their kids to protect their private location and information. Additionally, schools and education institutions have the obligation to educate every student about the consequences of participating in or leading cyber violence, so that students are aware of the seriousness of cyber violence.
Moreover, countries and their governments, a more authoritative role in the online environment, is an important part of stopping bad Internet problems and the spread of negative content. In the case of the proliferation of problematic online content on various platforms, the emergence of the government will limit the wanton dissemination of most content. Because the government has higher power to formulate rules and regulations and more abundant resources to improve the network supervision system. Almost all countries have formulated rules, regulations, and laws against cyber violence. In each country, governments in different regions will formulate different laws and regulations to restrict and restrict these behaviors. For example, according to Cyberbullying Research Center , more than half of the states in the United States regard cyber violence and cyber harassment as illegal acts and have laws to protect people from these cyber acts.
In addition to establishing different levels of protection laws, local governments can also adopt other different ways to prevent these network problems. Take India, a country where cybercrime is rampant, as an example. According to NCRB data, India reported 50035 cybercrime cases in 2020. From 2018 to 2019, India’s cybercrime increased by 63.48%, and by 12.32% in 2020 (Kaur & Saini, 2022).
In this condition, Indian government initiate to take action to prevent these cybercrimes. In addition to some bills like
For instance, I4C plan, also known as Indian Cybercrime coordination center scheme. I4C is an important tool to combat cybercrime. Its goal is to deal with different problems faced by online media, especially focusing on women and children’s victims, and to raise young people’s awareness of cybercrime (Kaur & Saini, 2022). The I4C Center is composed of different national teams and departments with different responsibilities and fields but their common goal is to combine technology to monitor and arrest people who commit cyber violence and other cybercrimes. Therefore, through establishing this center, the cybercrime rate in India is bound to be greatly reduced. Furthermore,
According to what have been elaborated above, whether it is network violence, network harassment, or negative network information, in such a developed network environment, it is easy to quickly spread and engulf network users However, as long as someone can stand up and act at the critical moment, these bad behaviors can be quickly prohibited. By taking different actions, the governments of different places can effectively avoid people being bullied on Internet. Whether laws or regulations are adopted to prevent Internet residents from being bullied or harassed, or the government sets up different departments to supervise Internet security, this can make the entire Internet environment healthier and reduce the Internet crime rate. In addition, the efforts of educational institutions and parents are also indispensable. It is very necessary for children to be aware of and distinguish bad network behaviors from childhood. In conclusion, the role of government and education are essential on preventing problematic online issues.