Government launches anti-trolling website to help victims of online abuse
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Version 0 of 1. The government has launched an anti-trolling website offering practical tips to people who find themselves the victims of online abuse on how to report the offence and where to seek help. The site is particularly aimed at women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, because they have suffered some of the most extreme online abuse since the explosion in use of social media. It explains how to identify abuse and get offensive content removed. The Stop Online Abuse site, launched on Saturday, offers help to people facing online harassment, revenge porn, hate speech, sexual harassment and blackmail. It provides legal advice and practical tips on how to respond to derogatory and abusive comments online. A variety of different forms of online abuse are highlighted on the site, from trolling (deliberately posting “offensive, upsetting or inflammatory comments online in an attempt to hurt and provoke a response”) to doxxing (publishing personal information about someone, including sex videos and photos, also known as revenge porn) and cyberstalking (“a pattern of online behaviour that is the long-term, intrusive and persistent pursuit of one person by another, making the victim feel frightened and distressed”). Related: What happened when I confronted my cruellest troll The site explains that “it is often obvious that someone is behaving in an abusive way, but it’s not always clear where the boundary falls between expressing a point of view and being abusive”. It sets out the line between free speech and abuse, explaining how under the law, “one person’s right to expression is limited by a balance with another person’s right not to be threatened or abused”. A section of the site is dedicated to tackling online sexism, noting that while both men and women experience abuse online, “one of the significant factors of online abuse for women is the frequent use of threats of sexual violence and derogatory comments about women’s appearance and bodies”. The site was developed by the government in response to research revealing the scale of online abuse experienced by women and LGBT people. The campaign organisation Stonewall said 23% of LGBT pupils reported experiencing cyberbullying and 5% of LGBT adults said they had been the target of homophobic abuse or behaviour online in the past year. Related: Don’t be a bystander in online abuse Caroline Criado-Perez, the writer and campaigner who received death threats on Twitter after her campaign to get the face of a woman on a bank note, welcomed the initiative, although she had not yet seen the site. She said: “It sounds like a great idea. I wish it had been around when I was being deluged with rape and death threats because I had no idea what I was meant to do.” She said there had been huge improvements in reporting abuse on some sites, such as Twitter, since she raised awareness of the problem. Criado-Perez added: “It is such a terrifying, mind-consuming and shocking thing to happen, when you receive these really detailed and graphic threats of what’s going to be done to you, how they are going to find you and how you are going to die: I didn’t know what was a police matter, or how to report it to the police.” Nicky Morgan, the minister for women and equalities, said: “This new site will provide practical advice for women and LGBT people on how to recognise abuse, what steps to take to report it and how to get offensive content removed. It is another sign of our determination to tackle discrimination in all its forms and create a fairer society for everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.” Related: Sue Perkins, Zayn Malik, Tony Hall: how did death threats become so casual? Nik Noone, the chief executive of Galop, the LGBT anti-hate crime charity that helped develop the site, said: “Evidence suggests that more than 1 million people in the UK face online abuse each year. “While online abuse can affect anyone, women and LGBT people often experience abuse as a result of their sex, gender identity or sexual orientation. Our casework here at Galop also evidences an increasing trend, the impact of which can have far-reaching consequences. This project is about ensuring that protection from harassment and abuse against women and LGBT people in the real world exists in the online world too.” |