There have been many cases where victims have spoken out against the hate they have received on social media, but sadly, it doesn’t seem to be making much of a difference in getting people to think before they say something hurtful.
Cyberbullying can affect anyone
It begs the question, when will people start taking abusive comments seriously? What will it take to make people think before they post? Some celebrities may have millions of followers, and it is often thought that these documents might not reach them. But the truth is, they do, and they can have serious outcomes.
The NSPCC describe cyberbullying as:
“Cyberbullying is an increasingly common form of bullying behaviour which happens on social networks, games and mobile phones. Cyberbullying can include spreading rumours about someone, or posting nasty or embarrassing messages, images or videos.”
For a long time, people would suggest that coming off social media is the best way to avoid abuse online, but why should innocent people lose the luxury of the internet for all it’s good, for the few people who use it to shamelessly attack victims?
Anyone can be affected by abusive messages online. Whether you have 5 followers or 5 million followers, once a message is out there, it can never be retracted, and the results can be damaging.
There are many celebrities that use their platform to take down internet bullies, and raise awareness of the lasting effects that some messages can have. The most recent celebrity in the news to call out the issue has been Cheryl, who took to Twitter to remind users that the messages do actually reach them.
The singer performed Love Made Me Do It, her first single since becoming a Mum. Her performance of her new single on the nation’s favourite talent show was followed by nasty criticism from some Twitter users.
She tweeted about her excitement with a countdown to the performance, to which she received countless critical and tasteless messages.
Cheryl hit back at the abuse she received after her performance on the X Factor on Sunday night, in a post on Twitter.
Thankfully, Cheryl chose to focus on the positive responses, and said she was very pleased with her performance despite the hateful feedback.
Cheryl is just one of many celebrities that face this kind of hate on the internet.
One of the first trolling situations which was widely reported in the media was the case of Tom Daley and Reece Messer.
Twitter went into meltdown back in 2012, when Tom Daley narrowly missed out on a medal during the London Olympics. The Olympic diver received hateful messages online from 17 year old, and fans of Tom Daley quickly jumped to his defence.
Tom had previously spoken out against bullying, and therefore decided to address the hateful comments rather than ignore them. He tweeted how he had although he had given his all, he still gets ‘idiots like this’ sending his messages.
The troll was arrested following the tweets, and was given a formal warning for harassment.
Not the most forceful of action was taken against him, but it certainly sounded a warning to other users of social media, to think before sending abusive messages online. Sadly, this wasn’t the first, neither the last case of online trolling.
Mum of Harvey Price, Katie, has spoken out several times about the shameful comments and memes made about her son online. After years of mockery on the internet of her disabled son, Katie felt it was time to take a stand against bullies behind screens.
In 2017, Katie began an online petition in a bid to make online bullying a criminal offence. The mum-of-five grew tired of seeing awful things being written about her defenceless son online, and took a stand to end it once and for all - with an aim to have a register naming and shaming people who commit the offence.
Katie has also used her platform to out bullies who mock her son online. She began a campaign to find the person responsible for racist messages which were posted about her son. The Sun reported that they had unmasked the bully, and he had since been sacked from his job at a window manufacturer in Stockton-on-Tees as a result.
Ariana Grande has also been a victim of cyberbullying.
When the sad passing of Mac Miller was announced, fans, friends and family of the rapper were left heartbroken and in shock. Although most of the talk on social media surrounding the news of his death were loving tributes, there were also many people who took to Twitter and Instagram to send abusive messages to Ariana Grande.
Ariana was in a relationship with Mac for 2 years and many fans blamed her for his death, after their May 2018 split. The comments were extremely insensitive - it’s not like Ariana hasn’t had enough to deal with over the past couple of years, without having to read messages like that.
In a post which she disabled comments from being posted, she spoke about her adoration toward her ex-boyfriend and how she wished she could’ve solved his problems.
It seems hard to imagine being told that your ex-boyfriend has just died suddenly, and then receive thousands of abusive messages from all over the world, being blamed for his death, being called disgusting names, and being faced with vicious threats. It’s hard to comprehend that level of thoughtlessness and lack of compassion.
Online abuse can be extremely damaging to mental health. So what can you do if you’re a victim?
Mind, a charity which provides support for people struggling with their mental health, advice the following on their website for people who are victims of cyberbullying.
- Don’t respond – it can encourage further unwanted communication.
- Block or delete the person – this means they won’t be able to contact you and you can’t see what they write.
- Keep records of any posts or messages that you’ve received, for example, take a screenshot or save messages to an offline file. This can help if you need to provide evidence to the site moderators or the police.
- Report it to the site moderators. Most websites will have a policy for reporting bad behaviour, so make sure you read this before you start.
- Talk to a trusted friend or family member – they may be able to offer help and support.
- Contact the police if you are being threatened or abused online and you feel in danger.
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