Bullying, harassment, violent content, hate, porn and other problematic content circulates on digital platforms. Who should be responsible for stopping the spread of this content and how?
The rapid development of the Internet and its advantages of enabling users to surpass the limitations of time and space create seemingly flawless and convenient communication platforms in the virtual world, where netizens can freely express and exchange their opinions on trendy topics and news worldwide. Nowadays, netizens not only passively receive information from others, but actively choose what information they prefer to see and engage in. Content that contains problematic information, such as bullying, harassment, violence, hate, and porn, can be considered a deformed way of free expression in this online world. The increasing amount of this content due to the growing popularity of online communication has started to pose more and more gloomy influences on internet users. The government and the companies that own digital platforms should be responsible for stopping the spread of this content by expanding the scope of current laws and applying stricter rules on content regulation.
One of the most important reasons behind the prevalence of these problematic contents is the virtual nature of the internet. With the help of digital IDs and profile pictures, netizens are able to hide their real names while freely expressing their opinions on the Internet platform. Under this circumstance, many rules that people will follow in the real world when having face-to-face communication start to become less crucial. Some characteristics of the online world, including lack of supervision and lack of a restrictive environment, make internet users gradually lose their sense of responsibility and self-control. Studies have shown that it is probable that the absence of direct interaction between the abusers and their victims makes the abusers have very less or no feelings of sympathy, empathy, or guilt toward the victims (Strom & Strom, 2005). This occurrence can be further illustrated by the disinhibition effect, which explains young people’s engagement in cyberbullying behaviors. Disinhibition is a behavior that shows a clear decrease in self-consciousness and care regarding other people’s perceptions. Teenagers who use the Internet as a communication tool have the option of anonymity, which can encourage disinhibition. Being online or getting lost on the internet has its advantages because it is virtually anonymous and has an element of invisibility. This sense of invisibility successfully removes social disapproval and worries about being discovered or penalized (Wilton & Campbell, 2011). If the number of these problematic contents keeps growing, everyone could become the next victim. Safe cyberspace can be created by establishing a long-term mechanism and enhancing the regulation against those who publish inappropriate content.
The government should be responsible for stopping the dissemination of these problematic contents because the scale of the victims is already large enough for this issue to be taken more seriously. According to Landstedt and Persson (2014), existing legislation against harassment and abuse must be updated to cover digital spaces in order to reduce cyberbullying. Research indicates that nearly 60% of American teenagers have been targeted or harassed online, and a comparable proportion believes it needs to be considered as a major issue for teens their age (Anderson, M, 2018). There are several kinds of typical harassment experienced by young people: 42% of teenagers have reported receiving rude comments about their names online, more than 30% of youngsters claim that someone has shared untrue information about them online, and smaller percentages of teenagers mention that they have received physical threats, or that someone other than their parent has asked about their location, who they are with, and what they’re doing over the internet on a regular basis (Anderson, M, 2018). Besides the high proportion of victims who have received messages that make them feel uncomfortable, these inappropriate contents online can lead to poor academic achievement and mental health issues among students. Both female and male students reported that they experienced anxiety and depression as a result of online harassment (Lindsay et al., 2016). Studies also indicate a strong association between receiving hate comments on the internet and no longer feeling safe at school. For instance, having a bad body image is common among teenagers of both genders, but it is more common in females. Male victims of cyberbullying are more likely to experience homophobic bullying or harassment centered on physical prowess than female victims, who are more likely to receive harsh comments about their beauty and attractiveness (Landstedt & Persson, 2014). Bullying is considered a serious health issue for young people, and those who engage in it face the risk of developing psychological issues and attempted or actual suicide. Since part of the government’s role is to ensure the well-being of its citizens, it should enlarge the scope of the law in respect of online harassment, hate, and cyberbullying.
Moreover, the companies who own digital platforms, such as Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube, have an unavoidable responsibility to guide their users to strictly abide by the regulations and to stop the circulation of problematic content on their platforms. These digital platforms should lead the users to respect social morality and ethics while preventing their users from being subjected to cyber violence. Worldwide and domestic studies have revealed that exposure to violent content on the internet drives young people to become aggressive and more likely to engage in violent behaviors (Huesmann, 2007). Huesmann (2007) mentioned that the rise of excitement and mimicking behavior after watching violent content involves the brain’s neural network, which is hard to control and adjust people themselves. He stated that aggressive behaviors may also become increasingly possible as one of the short-term impacts of exposure to media violence, for two plausible reasons: excitement transfer and general arousal. In his research, a successive stimulus that elicits an emotion, such as rage, may be mistakenly ascribed for being more intense than it actually is because of the emotional reaction the media presentation aroused, and such excitement transfer could result in more hostile reactions to provocation right after an exciting media presentation. In contrast, the overall excitement induced by media exposure can simply reach a point where inhibition of improper reactions is reduced, and dominant learned responses are manifested when solving societal issues (Huesmann, 2007). Under this situation, social media platforms should take the responsibility of filtering insulting or violent words while keeping track of the violent content that is reposted heavily. For example, according to Kantrowitz (2017), Twitter is working to reduce the exposure of tweets from users it considers to be engaging in abusive conduct. This regulation essentially limits the reach of users whose tweets Twitter deems offensive by momentarily preventing those tweets from being seen by individuals who don’t follow them. An individual who doesn’t follow the penalized user wouldn’t see the tweet on their notifications page. Additionally, retweets from the penalized users’ followers would not be visible to people who are not following them. Other social media platforms should perform likewise and introduce protocols to protect their users.
In conclusion, the number of victims of cyberbullying and online harassment is large enough that the government should introduce new or expand the current regulations to stop the circulation of these hateful remarks on the internet while protecting the mental health and well-being of their citizens. In addition, since many people are encouraged to violence by witnessing violent scenes, pornography, and other unsuitable web content online, digital platforms should make efforts to forbid these contents to be seen by people who are underage or do not want to expose themselves to these types of information and to protect children from accessing sexual content.
References:
Strom, & Strom, R. D. (2005). When teens turn cyberbullies. The Education Digest, 71(4), 35.
Wilton, C., & Campbell, M. (2011). An exploration of the reasons why adolescents engage in traditional and cyberbullying. Journal of Educational Sciences and Psychology, I (lxiii)(2)
Landstedt, & Persson, S. (2014). Bullying, cyberbullying, and mental health in young people. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 42(4), 393–399. https://doi.org/10.1177/1403494814525004
Anderson, M. (2018). A Majority of Teens Have Experienced Some Form of Cyberbullying. Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech; Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/09/27/a-majority-of-teens-have-experienced-some-form-of-cyberbullying/
Lindsay, Booth, J. M., Messing, J. T., & Thaller, J. (2016). Experiences of Online Harassment Among Emerging Adults. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 31(19), 3174–3195. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260515584344
Huesmann. (2007). The Impact of Electronic Media Violence: Scientific Theory and Research. Journal of Adolescent Health, 41(6), S6–S13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2007.09.005
Kantrowitz, A. (2017). Twitter Is Now Temporarily Throttling Reach Of Abusive Accounts. BuzzFeed News. Retrieved October 9, 2022, from https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/alexkantrowitz/twitter-is-now-temporarily-throttling-reach-of-abusive-accou#.cxvKQyKVz
