In typical
dating relationship violence the bystanders generally know the victim and/or
the abuser. They may be mere witnesses to the abuse, or knowingly or
unknowingly help facilitate it. These same types of bystanders exist in a
digital environment but are joined by two significant additional types of
bystanders – strangers who witness the abuse and know neither the victim nor
the abuser, and “cybermobs”, ”flamers” or “trolls”.
Offline abusers,
typically, avoid witnesses to their abuse (especially when the abuser is
seeking to hide the abusive activity or blame it on the victim). Even when the
abuse is designed to ruin the reputation of someone, it is staged not to appear
as abuse. As a result, offline abuse is
often a secret to everyone except perhaps the victim’s closest friends and
family.
But because
of the nature of online social communities with more than 1 billion users, it is
highly likely that strangers will witness digital abuse that is posted online
or sent in viral messages. When someone shares an intimate image of a third party taken by someone else, and you don't know the person in the intimate image, you are a "stranger witnessing digital abuse."
Those who
receive or view that picture “of some naked girl” are strangers witnessing
digital abuse. They can report it, ignore and delete it or pass it on.
And their choice can make a significant difference in the duration and scope of
the digital abuse. And, to the victim trying to contain the abuse, it can make
all the difference in the world. Empowering bystanders to report what they see
is crucial. To do that, we have to address the issues that cause them to ignore
it and move on:
·
Awareness
programs have to teach them what should be reported.
·
The
bystander must understand that a good faith report, even if it turns out to be
wrong, will not come back and haunt them.
·
The
networks need to make reporting abuse easy and remind their users that abuse reports
are confidential.
·
And
they must be convinced that their making the report makes a difference. If they
think their abuse report will end up down a black hole, they won’t bother
reporting what they see.
Reporting
abuse is one of the easiest ways for a bystander to do something. Yet, few make
the effort. Sometimes they aren’t sure if the report is warranted. They may
worry that they have misread the situation and might get blamed for making a
report that turns out to be groundless.
They also often believe that the person
or account being reported is given their name or contact information if they
render a report. Some don’t know where or how to report something, or believe
that the network or site doesn’t do anything when abuses are reported. Few
understand what the network or site will take action on, never having read the
terms of service when joining.
On top of these unknowns, bystanders often don’t
want to get involved. It might take more time and effort than they are willing
to expend. They may not have a stake in helping a stranger. And if the target
is known to them, the abuser may be as well.
For more information, visit StopCyberbullying.org and StopCyberbullying.ca.
