Cyber bullies become bold when victims do not complain: Experts

LUCKNOW: The biggest reason cyber bullies grew strong over time was because in most of the cases, their victims did not turn up to report the incidents to the authorities, said cyber and law and order experts who gathered at the National Stakeholders’ Conference on Cyber Bullying of Women, held here on Saturday.

“The first and the most important step in dealing with a cyber bully is to report him to the authorities. We have mechanisms to track the bully and take required action but it will not happen if the bully is not reported in the first place,” said Anju Gupta, additional director general (ADG), Women Power Line(WPA) of UP Police.

According to the recent data of Woman Power helpline that resolve matters relating to cyber bullying or threat to women, 12,850 cases of cyber bullying of women were registered till October this year. The cases form the major chunk of complaints lodged at the WPA.

The conference was attended by representatives of lawyers, police officials, representatives of social media giants, students and civil society members- all stakeholders concerned with cyber bullying.

Stating that the existing laws as well as authorities in the country were adept in handling cases related to cyber bullying, Dr Triveni Singh, SP of Auraiya and a cyber expert said, “We only need a mass movement to make people aware of basic dos and don’ts while using a social media platform. Also people should know about the steps they can take if they are bullied while using these platforms.”

Representatives from the online giants Facebook, Google and Instagram also highlighted the need to report anti-social activities on social media platforms. “We take all the complaints or reports on our platform seriously and try to address them within a set period of time. However, it becomes a little difficult for us if nothing is reported,” said one of these representatives.

The representatives of all the social media giants were taciturn on the issues of data privacy and standardising the complaints. However, they asserted that they were taking steps to counter bullying on their platforms.