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Tackling Incite to Harm – Evelina (age 17, Cyprus)

Inciting to harm online happens when somebody or specific content and messages encourage other people to physically harm themselves or harm others, or has as goal to personally threaten and hurt other people.

Unfortunately, incite to harm online can be easily committed by anybody from anywhere at any time reaching anyone of us, since the Internet has become a huge part of our everyday lives and especially the lives of the young – and mostly vulnerable – generation.

Therefore, children should be taught from young age at home and in school to be resilient against such kind of criminal behaviour, and to always talk to a trusted adult if they encounter anything online that scares them, bothers them or makes them feel bad. They should also learn how to use the available means in the online platforms they use, to report abuse and incite to harm, and not to hesitate to do so.

On the other hand, the platform providers should provide easy-to-spot and easy-to-use report buttons, and have experts behind those buttons, who can help minors in immediate need. Furthermore, the platforms should immediately remove content that calls for violence or any kind of harm, disable accounts of people who do the same, and also work closely with the police authorities to prevent any kind of physical or other threat.

Last but not least, a stricter and global law enforcement for such kind of actions – since incite to harm can have global consequences – could be put to place and punish the offenders wherever they are. Awareness raising would allow the online users to know these laws and how to use them, whereas it would prevent many people for committing incite to harm, knowing the severe consequences of their actions.