With great connectivity comes greater responsibility

Aman was found dead in Lautoka, among a pile of rubbish in broad daylight. What did people do? They took photos of him and shared it widely on social media.

It was truly disturbing that hundreds of Fijians thought it was all right to share such distressing images on Facebook.

And this social media giant took its good old time to take down some of the images.

Sharing such images should be made a criminal offence in the country.

We need to lead the charge and show that such behaviour is not warranted and has no place in our country.

People who took those photos, those who uploaded and shared those photos need to be taken to task as well.

In recent days, there has also been a noted increase in defamatory posts on Facebook.

People need to remember that there is an Online Safety Commission in Fiji and they need to reach out to the commission and lodge complaints about such cases.

We need to understand; people cannot post photos of others and defame them or call them names. They cannot do it in mainstream media and Facebook is no exception to defamation rules.

In fact, people need to remember the first Facebook defamation case won by Fiji Fashion Week against an individual who had attempted to rubbish the fashion body.

Family members of the man found dead in Lautoka should explore their legal options, they are well within their rights to sue people for posting the distressing image and they are well within their rights to sue those who shared the photos and even those who commented on it.

People need to think before they click, they need to think before they post things on Facebook. It is absolutely ridiculous that people think they can get away with this.

People who took those photos, those who uploaded and shared those photos need to be taken to task as well. People need to remember that there is an Online Safety Commission in Fiji and they need to reach out to the Commission and lodge complaints about such cases.