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Showing posts from September, 2019

What Facebook isn't telling us about its fight against online abuse

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What Facebook isn't telling us about its fight against online abuse Shutterstock Laura Bliss , Edge Hill University Facebook has for the first time made available data on the scale of abusive comments posted to its site. This may have been done under the growing pressure by organisations for social media companies to be more transparent about online abuse , or to gain credibility after the Cambridge Analytica data scandal . Either way, the figures do not make for pleasurable reading. In a six-month period from October 2017 to March 20178, 21m sexually explicit pictures, 3.5m graphically violent posts and 2.5m forms of hate speech were removed from its site. These figures help reveal some striking points. As expected, the data indicates that the problem is getting worse. For instance, between January and March it was estimated that for every 10,000 messages online, between 22 and 27 contained graphic violence, up from 16 to 19 in

Little Mix member Jesy Nelson confronts the harsh realities of online abuse

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Little Mix member Jesy Nelson confronts the harsh realities of online abuse – and she's not alone Jesy Nelson performs with Little Mix. Shutterstock. Laura Bliss , University of Birmingham Jesy Nelson – 28-year-old member of British girl group Little Mix – has spoken candidly about what it’s like to be on the receiving end of online abuse, and the effect that it had on her mental health. From the moment Little Mix won ITV talent show The X Factor in 2011, Nelson was subjected to a barrage of horrific messages about her weight and looks. In a new documentary, Jesy Nelson: “Odd One Out” , the pop star opens up about her harrowing experiences. She is not alone. Anti-bullying charity Ditch the Label has found that 17% of 10,020 young people surveyed in 2017 had experienced some form of cyber-bullying, while a further 69% admitted doing something abusive online. Of those who had been bullied online, 26% developed suicidal thought