Abusive Posts: A Trap for Profiting on Social Media

Investigation by Jihan Shuaib

The word "responsibility" and the word "good talk" are similar to it, and it rises as high as it says and stands, and conversely, the provocative speech comes down to its owner, and puts it on its bad trajectory, in terms of its social criticism and disrespect, but some of the people who have this saying from social media celebrities, influencers and activists, don't care about the idea of getting respect, or getting admiration for topical content on their accounts, as much as they aim to publish provocative content. Most of it involves abuse, brutality, and criticism of various issues and phenomena. Their goal is to provoke the wrath of a society whose members are quick to respond sharply and nervously, which may – and proportionally – involve some intensity, on this or that content, and this is where the malicious goal of the owners of these abusive publications is realized, where they are quick to collect the sharp, violent comments that accuse them of their obscene publications, and then go to the courts to sue, blame and throw at them, and collect fines when judging for their own benefit.

To resort to a number of social media celebrities, to gain from sharp community responses, to their provocative posts on these sites, they sacrificed their lives, to hunt down those who responded to them, to change their communities, to build their skin, and legal accountability was their destiny. That's what the investigation is all about.

Explaining the legal position, adviser Saeed Al Taher said Article 43 of Federal Decree-Law No. 34 of 2021 on Combating Rumours and Cybercrime provides for imprisonment and a fine of between AED 250,000 and AED 500,000, or either penalty, for anyone who insults another person or attributes to them an act that could subject them to punishment. Or disrespecting others, using an information network, or an information technology medium, or an information system".

The law gave the injured party the right to appeal to the court, and to use his legal right, while the whole thing could be a "trap", which the owner of the content trying on social networking sites wanted to win, and to gain by using his legal right in such cases, to publish provocative content to others, to respond to it, accordingly, and hence we advise social networkers not to get caught up behind those provocations, to avoid falling into the "trap". And in general, not everything that a person doesn't like about e-space has to be responded to, so they don't hold themselves accountable.

Children's awareness

Mohammad Rashid Hamoudi, President of the Parents' Council for Student Affairs, Dubai Fort City, spoke about the role of educators in raising children's awareness, entirely avoiding being nervous in responding to any provocative post on social media, saying: "We do not deny that social media sites have several positives, but at the same time they have many negatives and risks, which can expect users under the law, especially with regard to provocative tweets from some of their celebrities, It's a trap for young and old.

And what we care about are the kids, the students and the students who participate in responding to those provocative tweets, with abusive phrases that could include spamming, throwing, celebrating, scratching reputation, honor, social standing, what's trapping these kids in the cybercrime trap, taking them to court, according to Federal Law No. 34 for 2021.

So we as educators and parents need to put our hands together, to educate children about being cautious, mindful, and wary of the consequences of falling into the trap of neuro-reactions, on provocative, tactile tweets, so that they don't be held legally accountable, and that provoking each other through these sites is against public morals and good behavior. We, at the Sharjah Board of Special Education, organized student education workshops during this year's summer programs to raise awareness about the seriousness of this phenomenon and ask God to guide children to what is good and right.

Victims of foolishness .

And the media here has a role to play in exposing aspects of this issue, before it flourishes. According to media mogul Khaled Farrouni, it's no secret that over the past few years and with the growing population of the world of social networks, there have been many negative phenomena, and this virtual world, like our real world, is not without negativity, crime, as well as fraud, and we mean evil, contempt, and trickery, targeting a small segment of society at large, especially those who are jealous of values and habits.

And the fact that we've noticed lately is that a lot of lawsuits have been filed against a lot of people, many of whom barely know the way to court, but their crime is that they've left victims of some stupidity from social media users, who post provocative posts, controversial opinions on their pages, and wait for responses that directly offend them, to sue their owners, and earn large sums of money, where they and by agreement with lawyers, They benefit from the financial compensation that the courts award to them, after the verdict is in their best interests, after they have filed a lawsuit for the psychological harm they have suffered as a result of the abuse they have suffered.

And here we're sending a message to the community that you need to be mindful and serious, pick up the right answers and comments, stay away from tracking down account holders, avoid angry reactions, and spend your time on social media, following intellectuals, literally and intellectually mature people, because the virtual world has a lot of benefits and positives, and at the same time there's a dark side to it, and the visual media, readers and security agencies are intensifying their programs. And their awareness campaigns, they publish warning publications about this phenomenon, with a risk statement from all sides, so that there are no victims of such mischievous plots.

A collaborative link .

According to Sami A Nour, a cybersecurity expert, the reality of this phenomenon is that controversial content offers an easy way to achieve fame, increase followers and admiration, and then generate income, gain citizenship and publicity. This content increases statistically and scientifically in countries that are overwhelmed by personal transgressions, in other words, the poor accuracy of systems, in the application of their regulations and legislation, and the lack of effective oversight in the general media. And social networking sites are private.

And the fact is that years ago, a group of influencers began to form a collaborative link between them, in the quality of the content being offered, and the astronomical advertising policy, which I later referred to as money laundering, while this association is working to collaborate on the ideas of the content industry, and there are others imitating these groups, and their methodologies are almost identical, with only different names and shapes.

And unfortunately, content that scratches the public eye, even if it behaves spontaneously, finds a broader way to become famous for two reasons, firstly the perverse motivation of individuals, which is promoted by the digital world, where in the digital world no one knows anything about our borrowed accounts, and we act on our desires. And the second is that they're crystallized in a conservative society that criticizes these behaviors and launches attacks against them, and according to the concept of publicity, there's no negative publicity, where talking about them, even with criticism, contributes to their popularity.

In cooperation with lawyers .

And he went on to say, "This content made these celebrities, it gave them social status and financial well-being, but in return, it gave them income from other sources, which was the cases they filed against violent critics of their content, where these celebrities cooperated with lawyers, many of whom claimed it in the bio description, some of whom agreed with the lawyer on a 'percent' of the compensation they would be awarded, and some agreed on a fixed reward. And, of course, "percentage" workers are putting more effort into looking inside the comments for which characters can make them an income.

There are some social media users, who comment on provocative posts, professionally and morally peacefully, but they don't accept the unfair claims of some social media celebrities, who believe in free speech to the point of scratching public space, but when someone expresses their equality, they have no right, and they claim it violates their freedoms.

Complaining

On how to deal with this negative societal phenomenon, he added: As long as criticism is not an effective method, where its owner is exposed to legal accountability, the solution is to report on social networks, where the availability of reports will weaken the spread of the video, or the abusive post, while when it is sent to friends in a special called "Look at this denier" or commenting on it even if criticized, it strengthens the account and its spread, so it's best to report, and ban the account.

And there's no doubt that if everyone does this, within a year or two, these accounts will disappear from the social networking sites; so let's just shut this up and report it, and it's possible to file a complaint with the media in the country where the person has the provocative posts, and when the complaints increase, they're going to have to take a stand against him, or take the complaints into account, in updating and improving the media policies, the policies of the social networking sites.

The other thing I want to point out is that this content can sometimes come from blackmail gangs, by agreement with some people, and they're influencers hired, they don't have an ad face, or a social face, and they're spreading more and more through the Snapchat platform and the Telegram groups, and they're starting to create Instagram accounts right now. And they're not going to raise a case, but communicating with them in any way, whether it's through comments, private communication, or add-on, will put a person in the spotlight of these organized gangs, which include a bunch of scammers, blackmailers, boys and girls collaborating to deceive others. And sometimes these gangs may include hackers, and in any case all of this negative content, corrupt in religion and the world, no matter who's behind it.

It 's an intrusive phenomenon .

She said Dr. Lila Balochi, counselor and coach for human and administrative development: quick gains by arousing and provoking others, a pervasive phenomenon in our societies, is the product of the futile behavior, which has conquered the worlds of some, with a blatant violation of religious and communal values, which have long emphasized the importance of cohesion among individuals, and staying away from chaos.

And with the Holy Qur'an emphasizing, on more than one site, the danger of creating animosity among people, some individuals work to provoke others, push them to blame and spit, and then use that against themselves, raising criminal cases to earn money, and in this way inciting animosity, igniting a diabolical fire, and harming others.

So everyone should abide by the principles of religion, especially tolerance, and avoid falling into the trap of provocation, and remember the saying, because giving in to these provocations is a big mistake, leading to bigger mistakes, worse disasters.

Source: Al Khaleej