Illustration: Dondy Razon
The Quebec newspaper, La Presse, recently reported on two cases where teachers were the focus of online abuse via Facebook. In one case, it was an old boyfriend who created a fake profile, posting photos and comments that were embarrassing and damaging to her both personally and professionally. In the other case, it was students who created a Facebook page in order to freely vent whenever and whatever they wanted about their teacher.
Social networks contribute to the advancement of daily life by simplifying our exchanges and enriching their content. But, it’s the absence of strict rules that inhibit the rapid growth of such networks, with Facebook at the top of the list. This lack of regulation was one of the subjects discussed at the E-G8 Forum in Paris, where support for minimal governmental regulation was shown as much by web multinationals advocating economic liberalism as by libertarians in favour of an open and equal Internet for all.
Without establishing specific legislation, we must not minimize the range of acts such as those reported in the La Presse article. In all democracies, tribunals must attack such wrongdoings with the same vigour as that of all types of physical harassment. In the two cases mentioned, there was an obvious prejudice, obvious culprit(s) and therefore obvious punishment to fit the crime. Anyone who is tempted to attack the integrity of another shouldn’t be able to get away with it by hiding behind a social network. There are, of course, some legal grey areas (anonymity and false identities, the nationality of the company that runs or hosts the social network, public content), but if a complaint is made, with both the victim and the offender in the same jurisdiction, there isn’t any reason to be lenient when these facts are presented.
It’s up to the courts to make adults aware that identity theft and slander on the Internet are misdemeanours, and it’s up to parents to teach children that it is just as serious, if not more so, to “Like” a defamatory public cartoon of a teacher online as it is to harass him or her in the classroom.
On Facebook, just as in real life, the freedom of each individual must hold with the freedom of all; this must be communicated and taught. It’s at this price that we can continue to benefit from social media without governments being tempted, for good or opportunistic reasons, to add layers of liberty-killing regulations.
Read more from Jean Pascal at A Nos Vies Numériques.
