Running Head: CYBERBULLYING

Social media and Cyberbullying on social networks

Heba Al Duwaih

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Organization

Facebook is one of the most widely used social media networks across the globe. The platform

was developed and launched in the year 2004 in California. The founders of the company

include Mark Zuckerberg and his Harvard College friends. The membership of this social media

website was initially only given to the students of the Harvard University and was then later

expanded across other higher education institutions before it became a public website accessible

to all. It is a social communication and entertainment company with more than 25,000 employees

and an annual revenue of more than 40 billion USD. There are almost 2 billion users that are

using this platforms and millions log on the platform on a daily basis[ CITATION Hoe17 \l 1033 ].

Industry category

Facebook and other social media platforms belong to the internet industry, which is probably the

largest industry in the world in terms of its users.

Running Head: CYBERBULLYING

Executive summary

Facebook being the most widely used social networking sites along with other platforms like

Instagram, YouTube, Twitter etc. has caused to revolutionize the social media industry and have

made a huge impact on the lives of the people. Facebook has the highest rate of penetration when

it comes to the number of users on the platforms and the frequency of use. Facebook has

provided people with a highly vibrant social communication platform where they can

communicate and entertain themselves. However, the case study here talks about how Facebook

as a social networking website has become a dominant source of cyberbullying and is causing to

negatively impact the social life and psychological health of victims. Cyber bullying on social

media websites and specifically Facebook has become a highly prevalent issues. The case study

here talk about the issue of cyber bullying on social media sites like Facebook and how it causes

to impact the lives of the victims and it also talks about the solution that can be applied towards

the issue. There are various things that a victim of cyber bullying on Facebook can do to address

the issue or even make the bully accountable for his acts. This includes reporting the post and the

profiles, getting the police involved and blocking the bully etc.

Purpose/ Challenge

Cyber bullying on Facebook is a serious and widely reported issue that needs to be addressed

before it makes an Impact on the life of the victims. The social media networks are mostly

ineffective in stopping the underage children from joining platforms like Facebook. According

to an estimate, almost 7 million children of age less than 13 have their accounts on Facebook.

About 1 million of the children according to some estimates have been exposed to some form of

cyber bullying on Facebook[ CITATION Tee14 \l 1033 ]. The children who are under age are more

prone to make lose comments that they might not make to someone in person and thus they can
Running Head: CYBERBULLYING

be really hurtful to other children. Facebook features such as the like buttons and the comments

make it very easy for the user to jump on the bandwagon on cyber bullying. Reports state that

almost 70 percent students in schools in the USA have experienced frequent bullying on the

social media platform and specifically Facebook[ CITATION Tee14 \l 1033 ]. Cyber Bullying

through the Facebook platform sends out a message to the victim that they are not fit in the

society or the world does not like them, and thus they feel like the bullying is justified. This can

cause to make the victim feel that they are inferior and can make them alone. There are tons and

tons of Fake profiles that are present on Facebook and that allows the bullies to do their thing

with the victims. Psychologists are the view that social media networks are highly effective

avenues of cyber bullying and they expose the victim to shame and psychological

distress[ CITATION And14 \l 1033 ]. They face identity and personality issues and many have

known to develop suicidal tendencies as a result of such bullying. An 18 year old girl Brandy

Vela was bullied on Facebook as she was body shamed for her weight. The girl as a result shot

herself in front while the family was watching and she was somehow saved[ CITATION Bro161 \l

1033 ]. The bullies through fake profiles have still continued to bully her even after the suicide

attempt and this goes to show the severity of the issue and the impact it can bring on the victims.

Solution

There are various steps that can be taken by the Victim himself or herself and these steps or

solutions are provided by both the company itself and the cybercrime control authorities and

police. The first thing that the user or victim needs to do is to identify the bullying in the posts.

Often the bullying on the online websites can be a bit different from what happens in person.

Therefore the bullying behavior needs to be identified before it can be reported. The bully might

say mean comments like Natasha has a very dull complexion and I wonder whether she is a
Running Head: CYBERBULLYING

native American or African. It can be in the form of negative and mean comments on posts to

embarrass the person making the post. Similarly, bullying can also happen in the form of making

Facebook page e.g. reasons as to why Trisha sucks. After identifying the bullying post, one can

go to the upper right hand corner of the post and click on the navigation symbol. It would give

different options along with the option “report post”[ CITATION And14 \l 1033 ]. After reporting the

post, Facebook would review the post and would remove it if it is found to reasonably be

something that bullies the person reporting. This option has not only been made available to the

person who has been bullying, but to anyone who has access to the post. This means that when

someone identifies that a person is being bullied, that post can be reported to Facebook to get it

removed from the social media platform. Where in case some person continues to harass and

bully, Facebook also provides the option to report the profile of that person[ CITATION Hoe17 \l

1033 ]. A person can report the profile or anyone on Facebook whether the person is a friend are

part of the network of the bully or not. This can be done by the going to the profile of the bully

and open his timeline. After opening the timeline, one can see a tab named View Activity Log.

In this tab, there is a drop down symbol where you can click and find the option that says

“Report”. Through using this option, the victim or some other person can report the profile of

anyone and Facebook will remove or block the account after reviewing the issue or analyzing

whether the bullying was done or not. When victims are being bullied by different fake profiles

and the victim knows of the bully, they can involve the police to make the bully accountable.

Most of the countries today have cybercrime laws where bullying is considered as a punishable

crime.

Benefits
Running Head: CYBERBULLYING

The solutions that have been discussed here are very important for both the people who are being

bullied and for the repute, growth and sustainability of the company. When the people report

profiles, Facebook comes to know of people who are making the platform unsafe or offensive for

the society. The company can identify the fake profiles or accounts through the use of these

options that the company provides for the users. Bullies generally have an overall bad behavior

and they do not only target one single person. They harass multiple people and especially the

bullies that are using fake profiles The girls are often the victim of cyber bullying and

harassment. The solutions that have been discussed above not only save the victim from such

bullying, but it also ensures that the bully is not able to bully or harass other people as well.

However, when the issue is serious and the bullying goes on, involving the police is the best

solution and making the culprit accountable can set good examples for others who engage in

such behavior on social media sites or Facebook. However, the issue remains that people can

easily make fake profiles through multiple IDs on Facebook. The cybercrime authorities can

however identify serious offenders, block their IPs and can bring them to task to actually put the

issue to rest. However, the solutions discussed under the case apart from police are also very

effective in resolving the issue and protecting the people from psychological distress that they

face due to bullying on these social media networking platforms.

References

Andersen, J., Bresnahan, M., & Musatics, C. (2014). Combating weight-based cyberbullying on

Facebook with the dissenter effect. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking,

17(5), 281-286.

Broomfield, M. (2016, December 14). Teenage cyberbullying victim mocked on Facebook days

after suicide in front of parents. Retrieved from Independent.co.uk:

Running Head: CYBERBULLYING

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/facebook-cyberbullying-victim-

rebecca-ann-sedwick-after-suicide-fake-profiles-florida-a7473606.html

Hoefflinger, M. (2017). Becoming Facebook: The 10 Challenges That Defined the Company

That's Disrupting the World. London: AMACOM.

TeenSafe. (2014, October 10). Cyberbullying through Facebook & It’s Effects on Teens.

Retrieved from Teen Safe: https://www.teensafe.com/blog/through-facebook-

cyberbullying-effects-teens/