Online harassment
Online harassment is abusive behaviour that takes place on digital platforms. As we all know, online harassment is also popularly called “trolling” by Millennials and Gen Z. It can take distinctive forms such as offensive name-calling, stalking, online threats, sexual harassment and body shaming (Pew Research Center, 2021). Do the threats range from rape, online molestation of body parts, sexual violence to death and whatnot? Online harassment has now become a known aspect of Web 2.0. It has become an implicit tool for abusers to attack people globally. Digital tech giants like Facebook, are paving a path for more online harassment through their “so-called” policies. The blog aims to showcase the extent of online harassment which is dealt with by women especially. The primary thesis forwarded will be that the consequences of online harassment have severe effects on the victims, and women are considered easy targets. In this blog, I will focus on the fact that with the ease and accessibility of smartphones, the dependency of people has severely increased on digital platforms. This has led to increasing in the rate of cyberbullying and trolling of men and most women on social networking sites. It will be followed by the case study of online abuse of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Reddit, Ellen Pao.
Well, to start with the emergence of web 2.0, the digital platforms and social networking sites have given people a choice of representing themselves online, which however is misused by some. The abusers who commit online harassment, often do it to make people, especially women, feel unsafe, humiliated and emotionally distressed (Womens Law, 2016). The main motive behind the harassment is to showcase the typical male dominance and maintain power and control. It is usually done by leaking private information of the people or posting nasty comments on social media platforms. Cyberbullying or ‘public shock’, is a great matter of concern about the power of digital platforms for the general public (Terry, 2021). It includes malicious behaviour by the abuser which can range to any extent to commit social media crime. According to the survey done by the Pew Research Center in the United States, it can be seen that approximately 41% of adults have faced online harassment through embarrassing and sexual comments, threats and stalking (Pew Research Center, 2021). Most people are mainly targeted for political opinions as online sites provide a platform to openly put forward views of any particular person. However, as a result of the rise of online harassment, 13% of people have stopped using social media networking sites after being a witness to this cyberbullying (Scheff, 2017). That is a lot of statistical data to get into. Isn’t it? Well, this study has limitations as everyone has the right to do and post anything one wants, but due to the fear of being bullied on online platforms, one has to restrict their usage of it. Thus, it can be said that online harassment has serious implications for the general mass as it demotivates and lowers the morale of the people; which leads to restricting the usage of online platforms which must be equally accessible by all.
Case Study on Reddit CEO, Ellen Pao:
Did you know that online harassment is increasing at an alarming rate with people getting more vulnerable to its effects of it? Let me give you a prime example of this. We all must have heard about the controversy on Reddit regarding online harassment. If you have not heard about it yet, then no worries. I will make this easier for you to grasp. Reddit is an open forum for social news and web content in America, where people are free to post anything, they wish (Abad-Santos, 2015). The entire Reddit controversy started after the resignation of Victoria Taylor, director of communications. She introduced the feature of ‘Ask me Anything’ on the Reddit platform. This feature went mainstream and received positive as well as tonnes of negative remarks from users. It led to the resignation of Taylor and Ellen Pao came into effect. After this, the ‘Ask me Anything’ forum was turned to ‘private’, which was not appreciated by the users. Ellen Pao banned five subreddits which were creating a nasty environment in the open forum. Two of them were called’ Fat People Hate’ and ‘Raping Women’ (Abad-Santos, 2015). The users questioned the decision and said that it is violating the terms of free speech which is an integral part of Reddit. Furthermore, the transparency level was not taken care of by the Reddit administrators to which the then CEO, Ellen Pao apologised. But this apology was not well-accepted by the users and thus started the whole abusing story. Phrases like ‘Punch Ellen Pao on the face’ and ‘Google Bomb’ started surfacing on the website (Abad-Santos, 2015). Several irrelevant remarks were made to her relating to racial and abusive sexual comments on the platform. This online abuse of Ellen Pao led her to resign from the post after her attempt to remove all pornography and racist speech from the platform (Terry, 2021). Therefore, it can be said that online harassment is a real big issue that can even deprive a person of his or her job.
From my perspective, the increase in online harassment is mainly due to the anonymity of the abusers on digital platforms. This online anonymity can make it difficult to trace the abuser as the stalker can be roaming around in a different city altogether or can be sitting right beside the victim (Privacy Right, 2018). The stalkers can use the information provided on the official accounts of the users and get every minute detail to threaten the victims. The ease of accessibility of private data on social networking sites leads to creating fake accounts and posting inappropriate images of the women targeted. So, just to be on the safer side, beware of the content you are posting on social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and so on. Platformed racism evokes hate, racism and social inequalities (Matamoros-Fernandez, 2016). This sort of racial injustice on digital platforms can demean the confidence of people as social media platforms have greater exposure. Each and every detail can be watched and stalked through millions of people. Moving on, self-representation on social media platforms means that a person must be neutral on political or social debate in order to avoid any kind of online harassment (Matamoros-Fernandez, 2016). This theory can be conflicting as people have the right to speech and give their own views, as far as the opinions are positive and not hurting the sentiments of any race or gender. Online harassment also results in the spread of terrorism and extremism due to the threatening comments posted on social networking sites (House of Commons, 2017). It aggravates online hate and paves a path for social injustice for different religions, race and gender, especially targeting the women. However, companies like Facebook and Google use violent and racial images and text to increase the overall profit motive and justify themselves by saying that the content published is newsworthy and in the public interest (House of Commons, 2017). The study has limitations as there is no such evidence of reduction in action taken to tackle the dangerous content on these social media networking sites. Hence, it can be said that online harassment has harmful effects on the overall society as it leads to extreme hatred, fear and conflict.
Harassing a woman on online platforms is gradually becoming an established standard in digital society. Women on digital platforms are often subjected to demeaning questions like “What are you wearing” and “Have you got any dirty pictures of yours?” (O’Halloran, 2017). They are mostly stalked on their social media accounts and are showered with bad words and phrases in the comment and message sections. This proves that women are the most targeted subjects for online harassment and are not safe in the digital community. In this context, we can see how dangerous digital platforms can get for women. They experience several sexual and hate comments. Women often come through to this online bullying and thereby build emotional resilience by avoiding these sorts of situations (Hunt, 2016). Thus, it can be clearly seen that women are being objectified on digital platforms which leads to having insecurities and fear of being physically harmed. Women try to ignore such activities online and try to reduce the usage of several digital platforms.
The tech giants like Facebook and Google must maintain obligations to limit the content that is considered criminal under national law and practice code of conduct (Woods & Perrin, 2021). The code of conduct once applied, will lead to an increase in the transparency of these platforms which will be beneficial for people all over the world. The considerations in the terms and conditions policy will further reduce the risk factor related to fake accounts, age control and user verification (Woods & Perrin, 2021). As a result of this, people could get access to more revised content and would get a more systematic approach irrespective of any online abuse and harm. Nevertheless, according to Facebook Community Standards, Meta wants its audience from all over the world to freely talk about issues of concern, even if some may disagree or find them objectionable (Meta, n.d.). This viewpoint of Facebook clearly states that Facebook does not consider the safety guidelines of its users, and would not make necessary changes in its policy in order to gain maximum profits. Therefore, it can be said that online harassment is an issue of concern that must be regulated soon in order to save the audience from its repercussions.
The abusers do not care about the well-being of other people and just want to reciprocate their frustrations in terms of harassing women on digital platforms. Hashtag poisoning is the new invention in making women uncomfortable and trolling to a much greater extent (Pen America, n.d.). In the above-mentioned case study of Reddit, CEO Ellen Pao also became a victim of the hashtag ‘#EllenPaoIsACunt’. Hashtags are used by trollers to destroy an ongoing campaign and are usually hinted at and targeted at women to show online abuse. The tech giants must focus on the duty of care of their users and regulatory policies that are oriented toward the prevention of harmful results (Woods & Perrin, 2021). The companies must by this time be aware of the consequences of online harassment and must abide by innovative solutions. They also should consider the fact that the end-users are not neutral and the content posted on digital arenas does impact on the way it is shared. Are you active on Facebook? If yes, then do read the further statement precisely. Facebook accepts the fact that privacy is their major concern and the content people tend to watch on the platform is “authentic” (Meta, n.d.). The statement clearly has limitations as one of the former Facebook employees named Frances Haugen alleged that the company has failed to act on internal reports to make the site safer for its potential vulnerable users. Therefore, it can be said that online harassment is a serious concern and companies must implement proper rules and regulations in order to reduce the after-effects of trolling.
The blog argued that online harassment has a serious impact on the victims. People who fall into the trap of online harassment do experience fear and death threats. It can also be concluded that people on gaming apps also encounter this online abuse. The women are the most targeted ones for this harassment as trollers think of them as an easy catch. Some women out of fear do not report these cases and stick to avoiding the whole scenario. According to Pew Research Center, 41% of people have experienced online harassment and most of them are youngsters and women. The tech giant Facebook makes false claims of securing the private data of its users but in reality, does use this data to drive profit. Digital companies must adopt a duty of care for their users and make proper rules for the same to increase transparency and reduce the rate of online abuse. All in all, it can be said that online harassment does make the lives of the victims vulnerable with its consequences and stands them in a paradoxical situation of not being able to understand the future repercussions.
References
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House of Commons. (2017). Hate crime: abuse, hate and extremism online. 3 April. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmhaff/609/609.pdf
Hunt, E. (2016). Online harassment of women at risk of becoming ‘established norm’, study finds. THE GUARDIAN, 3 April. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/mar/08/online-harassment-of-women-at-risk-of-becoming-established-norm-study
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O’Halloran, K. (2017). ‘Hey dude, do this’: the last resort for female gamers escaping online abuse’. THE GUARDIAN, 3 April. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/oct/24/hey-dude-do-this-the-last-resort-for-female-gamers-escaping-online-abuse
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Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. (2018). Online Harassment & Cyberstalking. 3 April. https://privacyrights.org/consumer-guides/online-harassment-cyberstalking
Scheff, S. (2017). Online Harassment Impacts Majority of Adults: Finding Outreach. HUFFPOST, 3 April. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/online-harassment-impacts-majority-of-adults-finding_b_59653114e4b09be68c0055e2
Terry, F. (2021). Regulating Platforms. Polity. Cambridge.
Matatoros-Fernandez, A. (2017). Platformed racism: the mediation and circulation of an Australian race-based controversy on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, Information, Communication & Society.
Moore, M & Tambini, D. (2021). Regulating Big Tech: Policy Responses to Digital Dominance. Oxford University Press.
WomensLaw. (2016). What is Online Harassment? 3 April. https://www.womenslaw.org/about-abuse/abuse-using-technology/technology-tool-abuse/cyberstalking-and-online-harassment/what-0
Woods, L. and Perrin, W. (2021). Obliging Platforms to Accept a Duty of Care. Regulating Big Tech: Policy Responses to Digital Dominance.