Following the National Anti-bullying week recently in November which focused on cyber-bullying I have had a spate of clients who have been bullied via social networking sites such as Facebook , Bebo , MySpace and YouTube . They have variously received e-mail abuse which is quite open and threatening. The effect of this cannot be underestimated. Not a user myself, initially I found it hard to understand how this could be so distressing. Surely the best way to halt distress would be to stop using the site? However, these type of sites are so ubiquitously integrated into their everyday life that this simply is not possible, let alone fair.
There are now more than 17 million users of Facebook , in the UK alone and it is used to chat , to date, to exchange ideas , music , to find a job, and even to secure business deals . When used for beneficial purposes the army of ‘friends’ that can be mustered up can be extremely useful. I have even had clients find witnesses on it ! Why should my clients have to stop using what are for them useful social networks?
The temptation for my clients was to respond to the abuse. However this only serves to flare it up. I found that there are online controls on all of the sites that can be used to block people or limit your profile. For example, it is also possible to report abuse to Facebook themselves and they will respond within 72 hours of your complaint.
If this doesn’t work, printing off a copy of the page and reporting the matter to the police will at least register what has occurred. If it is persistent the police have increasingly shown their willingness to take action and impose a restraining order or even custodial sentence on the defendant. It is of course possible to take matters into your own hands and start Legal proceedings under the Protection from Harassment Act. You can even serve your bully with legal proceedings via the site they are bullying you on! If the abuse is made whilst the bully is at work then the employer may be held to be liable for the actions of their offending employee and the potential compensation which may be awarded for these claims is unlimited.
Awareness of this type of abuse is on the rise and the number of sites such as Bullying UK offering advice and help is fortunately also increasing. Perhaps with awareness we will also see people moderate their behaviour as they learn that offensive abuse online is no different to abuse in the real world.
Submitted by Marcus Weatherby
