It is estimated that one in 10 women have already experienced some form of cyber violence since the age of 15.
Research also suggests women are disproportionately the targets of certain forms of online harassment and cyber stalking. This is according to a report complied by the European Institute for Gender Equality titled Cyber Violence Against Women And Girls in June 2017. It defines online harassment as – but not limited to – unwanted, explicit online messages; hate speech, insults or threats; and inappropriate or offensive advances on social networks.
In South Africa, the Protection from Harassment Act covers both online and physical harassment. For those who think they can hide behind the anonymity of sending emails or SMSes, the act requires service providers to give the addresses and ID numbers of perpetrators to the courts.
Social media law specialist Emma Sadleir of The Digital Law Company says if someone is sending you threatening messages, you should block them immediately.
“Don’t feed the trolls, don’t give them the airtime they seek.”
Sadleir stresses the importance of using privacy settings; and the ‘block and report’ functions across social media.
“You can take legal action by getting a protection order; sending a letter of demand; or a cease and desist letter,” explains Sadleir.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/technology/2017/11/20/when-it-pays-to-be-online/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: When It Pays To Be Online</a>
A local journalist and author Shubnum Khan was a victim of stalking and online harassment. It started off innocently through a primary school friend who wanted to catch up after 18 years.
But, he wanted more from Khan and claimed she was giving him mixed messages. “If I sent a message to tell him to leave me alone because I wasn’t interested, he would say I made a typo,” says Khan.
The messages became intense when he spoke about their wedding, and referred to Khan as his wife.
When I stopped replying to his messages or calls and eventually blocked him, he took to harassing me on Twitter, says Khan. “I think social media became a platform where he felt he could force himself on to me because it was in a public space and I was active there.”
“I considered police action when he came to my house. I was so afraid to leave home because I thought he might be waiting somewhere – to this day, I get nervous every time I see a black BMW,” says Khan.
The turning point came when he posted photos of her house on Twitter.
“A few people tweeted at SAPS when he posted photos of the front of my house, but my father managed to phone his family and it died down from there.
“I consulted with a police officer as to what my next steps should be and I was considering taking out a restraining order just before it died down.
“I think having a profession where you’re in the public eye doesn’t help. Sometimes, people read my personal essays or novel and think they &#8216;know&#8217; me and understand what I need or want.
“I’m more careful about what I post now, but due to the nature of my work it’s a difficult place to negotiate,” says Khan.
“Twitter suspended the account and I feel better about it but things can quickly spiral out of control so I would suggest finding a balance in what you post in public.”
Sadleir thinks social media companies are failing their users, and should be better and quicker at responding.
“For me the problem lies in the anonymity, they are not very good at providing information about who started the account, with what device, and the IP address, which is information they have.”
“The truth is they don’t give a damn about South African laws, or any laws,” concludes Sadleir. &#8211; Written by Nafisa Akabor

The Dark Side Of Social Media

A few months ago, I suddenly found myself dropping to the ground and crouching in long grass with bullets whirring overhead. Minutes earlier, I’d been following a group of pro-Russian fighters conducting a sweep of an area in eastern Ukraine to make sure it was ‘clean’ of the Ukrainian military. For a few frozen moments, my world stood still.
Everything was deathly quiet aside from the frighteningly close cracking of gunfire. Somewhere in the distance a dog was barking and the commander was shouting&#8230; Yes, I was afraid.
Last May, I was sitting in a hotel room, warm water lazily filling a bath tub nearby. I switched on my phone and instantly paled. I was just as afraid.
“Scum of the earth”, “f*** her”, “take a knife and pull out all her Russian shit”.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-31873" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/facebook-profile-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/facebook-profile-300x169.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/facebook-profile-600x338.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/facebook-profile-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/facebook-profile.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
My Twitter feed had gone into overdrive and as I scrolled down each message, the abuse intensified.
I was on assignment in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, reporting for the Moscow-based broadcaster, Russia Today. The two countries were at war with each other and a local activist had picked up on my location and started a manhunt – “not just to catch her but to kill her”.
Within hours, I was on a plane out of the country. I arrived at the airport with dark glasses and a scarf. If I hadn’t been so afraid, it might have been funny.
Ukraine is currently the third most dangerous country for journalists to work in. The online harassment I faced, and continue to face, is not unique to Ukraine though, or for that matter, to journalists in general.
But what the threats uniquely focus on is my gender – the fact that I’m a woman – and the explicit threats are of extreme violence to rape and assault me. Most of my so-called online detractors focus their criticism less on my work and more on me.
My experience echoes the stories of other female journalists, writers and bloggers. A staggering 72.5% of online harassment is targeted at women, according to the Organisation for Safety and Co-operation in Europe.
The issue is of such concern that a special panel has been set up to address it. Trolling has become a favorite past-time for people buoyed by the anonymity and safety the online world offers. It is easy to sit in your home and spurt threats at anyone with views you don’t like. Legislation is far from water-tight in preventing it and what gives these words so much power is the incitement they can evoke and the very real possibility for them to be carried out in the real world.
I was in a taxi, lost, in an outlying suburb of Beirut, Lebanon. The driver had been circling the same neighborhoods for more than an hour and it was starting to get dark and I was getting concerned.
In such a situation, GPS tracking is a godsend – not just for finding one’s way but for alerting one’s editors to a possible abduction attempt. Today, journalists are seen as legitimate targets – no longer do we merely cover the story; in many instances we’ve become the story – whether online or in the real world.
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The number one fear we all share is that of being kidnapped. Paradoxically though, while switching on my cellphone’s GPS that day in Beirut and increasing my security, I also decreased it by alerting online detractors as to where I was.
The risks are greater when you’re a woman in the field than a man. In many parts of the world, women journalists are a strange persona for those with preconceived ideas of where a woman’s place should be.
Once, during an embed (term for a journalist attached to a military unit in conflict areas) with American soldiers in the Afghan province of Zabul, a group of children came running after us, laughing and joking. I was weighed down by a bulletproof jacket, helmet and backpack, but through the military sunglasses that kept slipping down my nose I could see the children pointing at my red-painted finger nails.
When we eventually took a breather and I removed my helmet, one of the more courageous boys plucked up the courage to step forward and ask: “Ma’am, do your parents know you’re here?”
All voices need to be heard, whether male or female, whether for or against the views one holds. Courage lies not only in speaking out for what one believes in, but for making sure the views of those we disagree with are given a platform.
– The writer is South African and the Middle East bureau chief of Russia Today. She was reporting for the channel in Kiev when a manhunt started against her and she had to exit.

Tag: Harassment

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

The Dark Side Of Social Media

‘Catch Her… Kill Her’