THUS CYBER LIBEL IS A CRIME?

Ma. Luningning B. Manguerra

Cyber libel deals with different insult or hurtful words that are happening in the world of social media, Beal (ND). It also talks about untruthful and harmful descriptions that are made for a person published in articles or through different social media platforms like Facebook, twitter, or even blogs. As stated by Terence Morris, “crime is what society says is crime by establishing that an act is a violation of the criminal law. Without law there can be no crime at all, although there may be moral indignation which results in law being enacted”.

Therefore, cyber libel can be a criminal case when a person is already violating the rights of an individual by posting issues, concerns, descriptions or making an article without providing evidence and honesty to the internet. Anything or any kind of words posted in internet that the main reason and intention is to harm a person can be treated as criminal case already, because moral damages are more painful than physical damages.

In relation to this, most of the victims and suspects of cyber libel crime are the students. A lot of students are engaging with it without knowing the consequences. They are the susceptible in this kind of crime because they are not educated enough about this, that’s why they need to be guided by their parents, peers who have an ideas about this crime and even their teachers who become their second parents. In our world today, it is important that the youth are being knowledgeable not just in this kind of issue but in general.

Indeed, cyber libel is a crime and it is a criminal case because it brings destructions, damages and dangers to the person who can be the victim of it. In just simple wrong descriptions, suddenly it changes and affects the good life of a person. Everyone can be a victim or suspect of a cyber-libel crime so we must be more careful to our emotions that leads to what we post in internet, because sometimes we tend to post anything we want without knowing that we are already violating the right of a person. There is nothing wrong about sharing our ideas or expressions because we have a freedom to do it but somehow we should know our limits.

As a human being it is important to give respect to the people around us because each and everyone one of us deserves to feel and receive it. It is also important to be aware and knowledgeable enough between the differences of our freedom to express our opinions or ideas and our privileges as a human being.

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The author is Teacher III at Francisco G. Nepomuceno Memorial High

School, Citicenter, Pandan, Angeles City