FACEBOOK, Twitter and Instagram are the main ‘hunting grounds’ for trolls — and almost nine in 10 users don’t think the social media giants are doing enough to police violent or anti-social behaviour online, according to research.
1000 adults who were victims of trolling believed that these were the main platforms that allowed such abuse.
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Nearly four in 10 say they are mocked every time they go online, with a third targeted for their physical appearance.
Eight out of ten people believe that the inability of criminals to be identified is a serious problem that must be addressed.
A majority of users want more security from the platforms they use. However, 67% said they would like stricter rules and penalties.
63% also want more security to stop strangers making contact.
Peter Alfred-Adekeye, founder of secure messaging platform LetterBox [www.letterbox.world], which commissioned the research, said: “The research clearly shows people want to see action while feeling safe online when connecting with others.
“The results of this survey have also shown people actually want change and are tired of where things currently stand in the social media landscape.
“Evidently, enough is enough and things need to change.”
Other common trolling themes are continuous negative comments on posts and insistence the victim’s point of view was wrong.
Some respondents also cite more serious experiences such as threats of death, rape, and mocking over the loss of a loved.
It also emerged a quarter of users have witnessed racially motivated messages – and 24 per cent have seen homophobic messages.
The official definition of trolling centres around ‘deliberately offensive or provocative online posting with the aim of upsetting someone or eliciting an angry response from them’ – with nearly a third also admitting they’ve done the same to someone else.
46 percent of those surveyed believe they have accidentally trolled someone online.
Upon witnessing such behaviour either themselves or to others, 68 per cent of those polled via OnePoll had reported trolling – although 59 per cent admit they’ve turned a blind eye in the past.
56% have stopped using social media due to trolling. However, 19% have returned.
Peter Alfred-Adekeye said: “Social media users should have a safe place online where they can interact with their peers and enjoy the content they love. This is why I created LetterBox.
“Sadly, prior to our platform, all existing social media platforms are founded upon pseudonymity, which makes it impossible for them to identify and root out abusers”
“We’ve tried to introduce trust into social media by tying user profiles to their legal names and postal addresses and verifying these by requiring all users to provide a legal proof-of-address at signup for account activation.”
To read the platform’s manifesto blog, head tohttps://www.letterbox.world/about
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