Offensive media

In recent years, the growth of online social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, has been explosive. For example, since its launch in 2004, Facebook’s user base has grown .............. a small number of US college students ............. 900 million users worldwide. Sites like these undoubtedly help us keep ............. touch with friends, and express our opinions freely: however, it is also true that a minority ............. social media users misuse this freedom of expression.

For young people who regularly send text messages and use social networking websites, “cyberbullying” is a problem they may well have encountered. Cyberbullies are people who try to hurt their victims by sending them unpleasant messages – usually anonymously – or spreading false rumors about them. Studies have shown that about one in three teens have experienced cyberbullying at some point. Martha is a typical victim of cyberbullying. A few months ago, someone started writing offensive messages on her Facebook page. The anonymous cyberbully warned her that she was going to get hurt, and told her to stay away from school. Later, Martha discovered who the bully was: it was a boy from another class in her school. “He admitted that he had sent the messages,” said Martha. “I asked him why he had done it. At first, he said he didn’t want to talk about it, but eventually he admitted that he was jealous because I had started dating his best friend the week before.” The boy promised that he would never do it again, but Martha’s friends advised her to tell the boy’s teachers, because they thought he could start bullying other people.

Bullying isn’t the only problem in the online world. Some Twitter users, for example, take advantage of their anonymity to send offensive tweets. British soccer player Stan Collymore was one victim: he reported racist tweets he had received to the police, who contacted Twitter and tracked down the person who had sent the abusive messages. The perpetrator, a law student, was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to two years’ community service.

In another case, two young men posted messages on Facebook encouraging people in their hometowns to start a riot, though they didn’t take part in the illegal protest. The police traced the owners of the Facebook pages, and the two men were punished with four-year prison sentences. The police explained that people who used social media to incite crimes would be treated in the same way as other offenders. They warned people to be aware that their actions on social networks could be seen and read by large numbers of people, and added: “Our advice is to behave online as you would in real life. And to the minority of users with bad intentions, our message is this: you may not be as anonymous as you think!”

What did Martha’s friends think she should do?