The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a Geneva-based UN agency based in Switzerland, also said in a report in May last year that the risk of cyber bullying or harassment was multiplied by the increase in children’s internet use in Covid-19 pandemic.
।। Kazi Farhana Islam ।।
At the present time the touch of sophisticated technology has brought novelty to our lives. In all cases it has brought the touch of revolution. Major changes have taken place in transportation, education, information exchange, health, agriculture and the workplace. This advent of information technology has made human life easier.
But the rampant misuse of this information technology has become a threat to public life. Especially the free use of these technologies by the young generation of our country has become a cause of concern for parents. A large portion of our young people spends most of their day behind various modern devices including smartphones, laptops, computers. As a result, they are separated from family, relatives, society and friends. It is a threat to family and society.
In this age of information technology, just as we are getting acquainted with new technologies, we are also getting acquainted with new words.
Cyberbullying is one of the most widely used words in the modern age.
By cyber bullying, we defame someone by distorting their image or video through social media. Or cyber bullying is the act of blaming or attacking someone in public.
Cyberbullying is an act of aggression that is intentionally carried out by a group or individual to harass someone.
According to statistics, 51% of the world’s population use social media. Eighty percent of them are being harassed in one way or another through social media. According to a 2019 UNICEF survey, 36 percent of the victims of cyber bullying in the country are between 10 and 13 years old, 36 percent are between 14 and 15 years old, and 25 percent are between 16 and 17 years old.
According to a 2016 BBC report citing a survey conducted in several Asian countries, including Bangladesh, the risk of harassment through social media is increasing at an alarming rate in these countries and women and minors are the most victims of harassment.
In most cases, people of all ages are victims of cyber criminals on social media such as Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber, Twitter, etc.
However, young women and children are the victims of this bullying.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a Geneva-based UN agency based in Switzerland, also said in a report in May last year that the risk of cyber bullying or harassment was multiplied by the increase in children’s internet use in Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the closure of educational institutions, many parents are being forced to hand over digital devices to children and adolescents. Children and adolescents are wasting more time on mobile games through various social media than reading digital devices. And in this opportunity, a group of opportunity seekers have turned the virtual platform into a criminal world.
Through these means, various crimes like buying and selling of drugs, trafficking of women, and plotting to kill someone are being organized. And the free use of technology has resulted in the emergence of juvenile gangs in the country in the last few years. We have come across such incidents as the murder of Rifat in Barguna, the mass rape of a Bangladeshi girl in Bangalore, the murder of a schoolgirl in Kalabagan in the capital.
The most uncomfortable thing is that every 12 seconds a new Facebook user is added in the country, which is more than the total birth rate of the country.
According to BTRC statistics, the number of internet users in the country till March this year is 11 crore 81 lakh 40 thousand. Of these, the number of mobile users is 10 crore 63 lakh 30 thousand people.
Mahfuza Liza, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime), Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), said in April this year that an analysis of the number of cyber crime cases in the last five years showed that 65 per cent of the victims were women. On November 17, 2020, the police headquarters took a new initiative to bring women under control and bring cyber crime under control. It launched an official Facebook page called “Police Cyber Support for Women”. Any woman there can complain if she is a victim of cyber harassment. According to the police headquarters, in Bangladesh under the Digital Security Act, Pornography Control Act, ICT Act, Telecommunication Act, six thousand and ninety nine cases have been registered so far in which most of the female victims are between 18 and 24 years of age.
Hannah Kimura, a 22-year-old Japanese wrestler, was a professional wrestler. She starred in Netflix’s popular reality show “Terrace House.” He committed suicide on May 23, 2020. He tweeted several times on social media before committing suicide in response to constant criticism from online Terrace House viewers that hinted at suicide.
In May this year, actress Ashna Habib Bhabna fell victim to cyber bullying. On Mother’s Day, he greeted his mother through a post on Facebook with a picture of his mother and sister. The post contains some obscene comments. However, the actor has got the remedy for this incident.
Moreover, a group of opportunity seekers using social media has been deceiving people in various ways. The group has been misleading people through leaked questions, lies about the media, religiously provocative posts, illnesses of various celebrities, films, and baseless posts about capitalism. Moreover, using technology, they are using social media to create one-on-one accounts with other people’s pictures and names, to spread rumors, to spread activities like extremist militancy. In various online portals, e-commerce companies are manipulating the hard earned money of the common people of the country in the name of lucrative offers. Officials of several such e-commerce companies have been arrested.
The reason behind the increase in cyber bullying is the free access to modern technology devices and social media. Social media such as Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber, Gmail, Yahoo – these give us the opportunity to integrate with everyone in the virtual world very easily and quickly. As a result, these means of communication become important for children and adolescents because they are able to access them directly without any supervision. Moreover, because parents do not have control over the activities of their children through social media, their children are also involved in various criminal activities or are being bullied. Despite the lack of proper family values and etiquette, children and adolescents become involved in cyber bullying.
Cyber bullying is a threat to us. They become depressed and get involved in various criminal activities. And people get depressed and choose to commit suicide at one stage to get rid of bullying. Cyber bullying is a serious crime.
We all need to be aware of stopping cyber bullying. Family, society and administration must work together to stop cyber bullying. If you are a victim of cyber bullying, do not be afraid to inform the family first. It is then possible to prevent this heinous crime through the cooperation of law enforcement agencies. If anyone in Bangladesh is a victim of online violence and cyber harassment, help can be obtained from the Cyber Crime Investigation Division of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime, Cyber Police Center, Hello City App, Report to RAB, 999 and Facebook pages of each.
Moreover, the hotline number 10921 of the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs is protected by providing all kinds of help directly and with advice. Awareness about cyber bullying should be created among people from all walks of life. School-going children, adolescents need to be made aware of what to do to get rid of cyber bullying. “Cyber bullying needs to be resisted with a firm hand, not fear.” Family members need to control their children’s behaviour through social media. There is no substitute for awareness at the social, family and state levels to stop cyber bullying. We all need to be aware of cyber bullying.
The writer is a student of Jagannath University. E-mail: kfislam29@gmail.com
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