The day after the US Supreme Court voted to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 states, the self-explanatorily named Stop Abuse Online website has launched. While the site has been set up with the intention of combating online abuse and trolling in general, female and LGBT victims are a particular focus.
The aim of Stop Abuse Online is to offer advice to those who find themselves falling victim to abuse -- be it online harassment, stalking revenge porn, or blackmail -- complete with legal tips about how to deal with different circumstances. The site is run by seven voluntary organizations in the UK and looks to bring the same protection to the web that people expect in the real world.
The unstoppable growth in popularity of social networks has served to increase the problem of online abuse as it is now easier than ever to connect with other. It's a problem that affects Twitter and the site recently tripled the size of its own online abuse-tackling team; Google also expanded its Right to Be Forgotten program so that people could request that links to revenge porn be removed from search results.
The Stop Abuse Online's front page explains:
An online life is something many of us take for granted. Smartphones, email, social networking, online dating, chat rooms, blogs, online gaming, Facebook and Twitter – most of us spend part of everyday interacting with others in this online world.
This has vastly increased our ability to share information and views with people around the world. But sometimes these online interactions become abusive and harmful.
Whilst online abuse can affect anyone, women and LGBT people often experience abuse as a result of their sex, gender identity or sexual orientation - or may be targeted for these reasons. The aim of this website is to provide support and guidance to people who are experiencing this type of online abuse.
The site is packed with practical tips about how to deal with online abuse, and stresses that there is a need to strike a balance between freedom of speech and individual human rights. "One person’s right to expression is limited by a balance with another person’s right not to be threatened or abused".
Check out the site which is seeking feedback about how it is doing.
Photo credit: YuryZap / Shutterstock
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