Giving it back to cyber bullies

Free speech on social media might as well be a joke  such is the level of cyber-bullying faced by netizens choosing to be forthright about their opinions. Celebrities and college-goers have been subjected to vicious trolls if they dare to go against popular opinion on social media. The recent victim was actress Shruti Seth, who criticised PM Narendra Modi’s popular #SelfieWithDaughter plan, tweeting that he was obsessed with selfies, and it really wasn’t a device to bring about change in the grand scheme of things.

Shruti might have just been speaking her mind, but what she didn’t sign up for was a torrid 48-hr backlash in which everything from her ‘Muslim’ husband and baby daughter to her career was targeted. The actress refused to cower and back down and responded to the misogynistic abuse she faced in an open letter that describes what Shruti went through. But she’s definitely not the first celeb to be victimised by cyber-trolls  some like actress-politician Kushboo Sundar face them almost on a daily basis. “Freedom of expression is one thing; but when it comes to voicing one’s opinion, people need to understand that what’s right for one person may be wrong for someone else!” she says.

Be it her political views, or responding to followers who have made personal comments about her family, Kushboo adds that she’s never backed down from defending her stance - “The hate tweets to Shruti were totally unfounded. If celebrities are to exercise their opinions in a civilised manner online, then followers need to act respectful.” Author Sreemoyee Piu Kundu recalls something similar she went through recently, “Just a few weeks back I had written a piece on Salman Khan’s release that was falsely shared online as an open letter and subsequently went viral. Fans of the star threatened me numerous times  on my FB timeline as well as Twitter handle. No one was spared  my parents, my family, my books and even my appearance.

The word “rape” was hurled at me  casually and condescendingly. I was advised to immediately deactivate my Twitter handle, as the paid trolls would intensify.”She goes on, “Less than 48 hours after I posted my opinion, I couldn’t log on to Facebook. I was asked to verify my identity, by producing a government of India validated documentation! It didn’t matter that I was the one being attacked. Rather a faceless fanatical mob “reported” my account to Facebook officials on grounds of nudity, claiming mine was a fake account.”

Tamil and Telugu actress Dhanya Balakrishna was also a victim, when she vented her frustration online following RCB’s loss to CSK in 2012  IPL play-offs. The very next morning itself, Dhanya was flooded with abusive messages, hate mail and death threats  from CSK fans. Unable to bear the backlash, Dhanya issued an apology shortly thereafter, also stated that she was leaving Chennai and the Tamil film industry, for her safety.  She recently made a comeback with the film Raja Rani.

College student K. Deekshitha ended up deactivating all her social media profiles after she vented her disappointment at some of her friends rainbow-filtering their pictures in honour of the U.S legalising gay marriage. “I put up an update asking people who’d spent years insulting homosexuals and using the term ‘gay’ as an insult, to stop saying they support the U.S ruling just because it was ‘cool’. Within a day, my inbox was full of hate mails from them or they’d create fake profiles of mine!” While social media has become an important medium to speak up one’s mind and comment on issues that affect individuals; more often than not online vitriol cases are coming to the forefront.