During a 2017 NCAA men’s basketball game between blue blood programs Kentucky and North Carolina, the worst nightmares of social media were exposed. In aftermath of the Wildcat’s loss to the Tar Heels, incited by radio talk show host Matt Jones, certain members of the UK fanbase took to the entire spectrum of the social networks in an attempt to destroy the life of referee John Higgins through a series of unrelenting and anonymous attacks. While Higgins and family endured damage to their business and even faced death threats through the waves of constant and disgusting trolling, the purveyors of the insults and worse faced absolutely zero responsibility in tarnishing the reputation of a stranger from the comforts of their own home simply because they were upset with the results of a basketball game. The extreme cowardice and convenient mechanism to freely assassinate a person’s character is simply a microcosm of deeper set issues in society, however the act of trolling is still prevalent, and even indirectly encouraged by the power brokers in Silicon Valley to drive traffic, a disturbing reality that is finally being addressed from a governmental level, except these officials do not have offices in Washington DC.
As social media user accounts have evolved into an extension of an individual’s personality, especially for the younger generations, and live interaction is being phased out much to the delight of the tech and device industry, the initial stages of the information age face unforeseen growing pains. From privacy to transparency and to the psychological ramifications of perpetual engagement, some of the most ancient and dark electronic skeletons in the closet are rearing their ugly heads that places both corporations and governments in a veritable quandary.
Lurking in the shadowy corners of the digital hinterland, internet trolls are still on the prowl in the form of identityless profiles, a dubious and reprehensible pathologically nefarious pattern of behaviors born from middle-aged commentators wishing to wreck havoc in the dial-up days of 28k modems and message boards. And while the social networks continuously talk out of one side of their mouth in talking a big game about preserving the initial vision of an unregulated internet, they continuously ostracize, malign, and ban Conservative content, yet allow the despicable behavior of cretins wishing to ruin someone’s day through anonymous attacks in facing zero consequences for the vitriol. As the electronic powers that be have worked with the justice system to implement and enforce cyber-stalking laws, the Australian government has proclaimed all out warfare on trolling in demanding accountability in deeming all social media corporations complicit for protecting the real identities of egregious repeat offenders engaged in the amoral activities of harassing fellow community members with libelous and slanderous comments and posts.
While Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his cabinet will attempt to slap Zuckerberg and cronies with harsh sanctions for enabling online abuse in pressing the platforms to unmask decrepit profiles, the potential mandates face severe backlash, as anonymity has been a creepily dubious, but ingrained concept of the internet from the phone line handshaking days. As trolls are addicted to the invigoration of the remaining invisible, while inflicting angst, this is not a glaring issue that will go away overnight.
The proposed legislation will hold the large tech firms responsible for moderating inflammatory personal attacks as targeted individuals will be able to file an official complaint against their tormentors, and the social media site will be required to provide the user’s information to assist in pursuing legal action. While certain elements of the law look good on paper, a precedent of futility has already been set that bureaucracy tussling with corporations possessing limitless legal funds is simply a waste of time and money as the tycoons always prevail in the courtroom. However, what the measure does accomplish is that the law is quite possibly finally catching up to prosecuting digital criminal harassment, and advocating for victims, especially women, who are vulnerable to any degenerate with access to the internet.
The Prime Minister was frank in his commentary summarizing troll culture, “Free speech is not being allowed to cowardly hide in your basement and sledge and slur and harass people anonymously, and seek to destroy their lives,” Morrison remarked. “That’s not freedom, that’s cowardice.”
Crossing the threshold into the gray area of the law, Morrison fails to recognize that social networks are publicly-traded private entities, and the policies of the platforms are not subject to the intrusion of government. Electronically trolling another human being is not akin to standing on the sidewalk and threatening a random person walking by with violence, but what lawmakers should be focused on is creating infrastructure to protect individuals, rather than strong-arming businesses.
Higgins ultimately filed a civil lawsuit against Jones in asking for punitive damages and requesting that individuals who encourage trolling, or participate in heinous derogatory electronic acts be at the mercy of the law. Unfortunately, the judge in the case bludgeoned the ruling, citing free speech and the FCC regulated airwaves, and concluding that words of the talk radio show host were merely opinions to the legions of lunatic fans who actually posted multitudes of degradative fake negative reviews on Higgin’s social network business page. The NCAA referee appealed the decision, but was swiftly rebuked by a nebulous panel of supposed legal minds.
As Australia attempts to curtail radicalized and toxic behavior, the pilot program should at least be a viable litmus test of governmental decrees actually being efficacious.
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