Social Media Abuse in Public Life
Social Media Abuse in Public Life was a panel debate at the House of Commons, 20 November 2017.
Last night I was delighted to co-arrange the insightful and educational panel event aimed at highlighting and discussing Social Media Abuse, hosted by the honourable member for Birmingham Yardley at Portcullis House. Jess Phillips MP, was joined by respected scholar, Dr Sharon Coen from the University of Salford, and digital journalist and Commentator, Kat Brown. This GlobeNet 21 Event was hosted by the ever impeccable Francis Sealy.
Labour’s Phillips highlighted the person toll online trolls and abusers have on their victims. Jess was identified as one of the most abused MPs in a recent Commons report, second only to Diane Abbot. The Hackney MP’s ordeal was so extensive her figure are said to skew the report too much and are taken out. Mother of two, Phillips reminded the audience how the protested often drowned out the voices of those constituents and vulnerable people she is there to serve, help and represent.
Kat Brown reminded us of the good of social media. How engagement and activity is there to serve and grow community. Brown, a former curator at tech – platform , Twitter, walked us through some of the tactics and strategies she uses to dial down and block the overly vocal negative followers. One very useful tactic on Twitter is to simply mute any conversation that she has no desire to be part of. Further, Kat recommended politely ending the conversation with a withering withdrawal and no further contact.
Dr Coen, who specialises in Media Psychology drew on her research to make her valid practical points as to how to combat this modern day scourge. The Senior Lecturer reminded us all that we all had the potential to be online abusers and trolls, and to think before we posted , to not dehumanise the target of our rage and see them as a person. Dr Coen leant on her Italian heritage that respects the right to speak up as central to civil society, whilst ensuring the rights of others are retained. The Media Psychologist was pointed in telling us to watch our behaviour towards everyone, including those we disagree with.
The audience was a mix of digital professionals, political activists, student activists and community leaders. Awin’s Paul Stewart’s contribution from the floor widened the consideration to include the commercial pressure that investors and advertisers can bring to bear on the platforms to up their game when it comes to monitoring and taking action.
This conversation will run. There is no modern day law that sufficiently encompasses all the issues that social media present. Further, just like we had to learn to “belt up” in the 70’s when it came to road safety, the principle may be applied to online activity that may be distressing for others to receive.