Week 10: Digital Citizenship and Conflict: Social Media Governance
For as long as there has been social media, there has been social media harassment and misconduct. It is important to discuss social media harassment as often social media is discussed as something wholly positive.
Social media harassment is an umbrella term which can refer to being called offensive names, being embarrassed online, being physically threatened online, being sexually harassed online, being harassed over a long time, being hurt online by a romantic partner, being impersonated, spreading damaging rumours online, encouraging others to harass you online, and attempting to hurt the victim in person after online harassment. (Lenhart, et al in Marwick & Caplan R 2018, pg. 544-545).
A prime example of subtle online harassment could be “gaslighting”. A term which has risen in prominence in recent years. The central tenet of gaslighting is the psychological manipulation of a person in order to erode their sense of self and sanity. (Gleeson 2018). Gaslighting’s re-emergence in our day-to-day vernacular is in part due to a wider societal focus on violence against women. (Gleeson 2018).
This week's lecture focused on the harassment women face online, and how many forms of social media harassment are heavily used against women. For example, planned and networked harassment such as doxing, revenge porn, social shaming and intimidation were used by mens rights activists and anti feminist gamers during a protected online controversy known as Gamergate (Marwick A & Caplan R 2018, pg. 544) As a result of social media harassment and misconduct, there is social media governance. Most social media platforms have systems in place to protect and censor users from harassment, in addition to keeping platforms safe and preventing harmful people from having a platform for their hate speech. These methods of governance are quite complex as they have to cover multiple and sometimes conflicting interests. These can include the commercial and public sector and different countries approaches with varying internet regulations.
In Australia there is no sadly single piece of legislation against bullying or online harassment. However there are a number of acts which offer some protection to victims. These include The Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 and the Enhancing Online Safety Act 2015. (Milne 2021). It is important to raise awareness on the dark side of social media and to encourage users to be as nice and positive as possible, to create a space that is safe and enjoyable for all users.













