Counting the mental health of cyberbullying

"I don't understand why they cursed me like that?" said Deng Ken, an uploader who has over 1.47 million followers on the video-sharing platform Bilibili. In a recent interview with Shanghai Daily, the 30-year-old spoke openly about his cyberbullying experience for the first time.

In his account "勾手老大爷邓肯," he often shares the world's paranormal events and urban legends. He said he had suffered from online violence for a long time, as some netizens would insult his family and even slander him for his appearance. He had never expected these horrible things when he began to post on the video platform three years ago.

Deng chose to openly talk about this nightmare experience after recent events involving cyberbullying once again brought online violence to the attention of society.

Last week, a graduate student posted a video on the social media platform Weibo, effectively slandering a middle-aged man by calling him "a vulgar guy." She had suspected the man of photographing her secretively on the metro in Guangzhou, southern Guangdong Province, but the man had already proved his innocence on the spot by showing his phone album to her.

In another case, in Wuhan, Hubei Province, a young mother lost her 6-year-old son who was killed in a car accident on campus. In extreme grief, she committed suicide. According to the latest report from Qilu Evening News, people in the know said the mother's tragedy was also related to cyberbullying. Some netizens accused the mother of "not looking sad at all." Others even judged her looks and maliciously speculated about her "hidden purpose" in asking for colossal compensations from the school.

"As a victim of cyberbullying, I felt empathy for them," Deng, the Bilibili uploader, said. "The Internet can be an amplifier of the undesirable side of human nature. The stress on life brought by cyberbullying is often beyond the imagination of those who have never experienced it."

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The most severe cyberbullying he has experienced is in June last year, when he was the first uploader to accept the invitation of the platform to open paid video features. After some people saw his charge of 30 yuan (US$4.20) for 10 videos, Deng was subjected to a torrent of verbal abuse.

He said that on the launch day, he received tens of thousands of insults via direct messages, comments and danmu (live comments). As more and more people heard about the charge, the online violence against him intensified until the next hot topic appeared.

"In their curses, my mother and I had died thousands of times a day," he said with a wry smile.

"I understand people have various opinions and I am willing to discuss or discuss with others over some issues. But many people laid the matter aside and directly attacked me and my family for no reason," he said. "My mom is my faithful follower. She saw the vicious words and always consoled me. Though she didn't tell me, I know she must have also felt heartbroken."

Deng noticed that a large number of detractors were not his followers and 60-70 percent were juveniles.

"They hide behind the screen and believe they are the embodiment of justice fighters," he said. "They even create WeChat groups to slander me systematically."

He said he used to publish the malicious information he received to let other netizens condemn these ruffians as a way of counterattack, but now he has to brush away their words.

"On one hand, many of them block me after cursing me, so as to prevent me from responding," he said. "On the other hand, when a few people abuse you, you can retaliate, but when tens of thousands of people abuse you, the only thing you can do is tolerate."

During the time when he felt most distressed, the platform opened a protective feature for him – only those who had followed the uploader for more than seven days could comment.

The insults, however, have not disappeared completely.

"Although I am trying to ignore these (insulting) words, I just cannot," Deng said. "I need to check the feedback of users on my work, and these unkind words are often mixed with normal comments."

Most of his online counterparts have also experienced cyber violence, he said. For example, one of his friends was hurt by some people who recently distorted certain photos of his underage daughter with obscene elements.

"Some suffer from depression, while others bid farewell to the social media accounts that they have put in a lot of effort," Deng said.

He added that many uploaders are looking to one another for comfort and finding measures for self-protection. For instance, those who focus on judicial stories only judge the culprits in their works, instead of giving tips to potential victims, so as to avoid misunderstanding about uploaders.

Deng said that he and his friends had never thought of reporting the abuse to the police or suing the offenders.

"The online environment needs to be cleaned up, but if everyone can be an offender, things could become sort of complicated," he said.

Righting the wrong

This erroneous tendency is being corrected by the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security.

Last Friday, China's top three legal bodies jointly drafted an anti-cyberbullying guideline. It stated that online bullying includes slandering or insulting others, infringing on others' privacy or reputation, as well as malicious marketing and publicity stunts based on online abuse.

The draft requires judicial departments to give severe punishment to lawbreakers who bully children and the disabled, as well as network service providers who organize online violence. Those who falsify sex-related topics or use technologies such as deep synthesis to insult others will also be punished harshly.

Although the guideline is still at the stage of soliciting public opinions, the deadline being June 25, many people are becoming cheered by it.

"It can be regarded as an official opening salvo taken by the government against cyber violence," said Deng Xin, a judge at Changning District court. He is also the team leader for the trial of internet-related cases.

"Previously, bullies in online violence cases were mostly detained for several days but after the launch of this guidance, they will likely be sentenced to prison," he said.

The judge said the guideline especially targets the first movers, promoters and organizers involved in cyberbullying. A justified and timely crackdown on these possible offenders can be a warning to others.

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The prosecution of cyberbullying cases was not as complex as the public might think, judge Deng said.

"Ordinary cases usually end within three to six months," he said. "Online court trials are being promoted nationwide, which can further reduce the time cost of the litigants."

In one of several related cases he had handled recently, an apartment owner living in Changning slandered seven members of a property owner committee in a WeChat group with hundreds of people, claiming that they took kickbacks. The owner even posted pictures of the seven dwarves from the Disney animated film to insult the committee members.

Although the incident did not cause serious consequences, the court ruled on the case, ordering the defendant to apologize to them with financial compensation.

In another two similar cases, a worker was called a "pig" by a leader in a WeChat group with hundreds of members, while a man's personal information, including his name, workplace and photos, was published by his ex-girlfriend on lifestyle-sharing platform Xiaohongshu, where she marked him as a "womanizer."

"The court will accept a case after receiving the perpetrators' information, a complaint and evidence. The victims can obtain personal information of the perpetrators from the platform either by themselves or with the help of lawyers," judge Deng said.

He emphasized that it is necessary to collect evidence in time. "According to the regulation, the platform needs to delete the cyberbullying-related content as soon as possible to reduce its influence. But this will increase the difficulty for victims to collect evidence," he said.

According to the draft guideline against cyberbullying, if the victims have such difficulty, the court will likely ask for the help of public security. If the case causes serious consequences to society, the procuratorate will intervene.

Judge Deng said relevant judicial interpretations need to be further improved, such as the definition and punishment of malicious marketing and publicity stunts based on online abuse – a new concept in the guidance.

Once the guideline takes effect, an increasing number of cyberbullying victims are expected to use legal weapons to uphold their rights.

Judge Deng said that Changning court established the city's first trial division for Internet-related cases five years ago to tackle a variety of issues, including online infringement.

"Freedom of speech doesn't mean that people can break the law and hurt others," said the judge.