Features

Unpacking social media's mob mentality

Where the internet is meant to be a place that educates and connects us, cyber bullying and the social media mob mentality have transformed it into quite the opposite.

28 April 2020

In 2013, Justine Sacco sent out a tweet that would change her life. Just before climbing on a plane from London to Cape Town, the senior director of corporate communications at IAC posted: “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” And, understandably, her joke was not well received. While Sacco’s comment was unacceptable, the level of vitriol and aggression she faced foreshadowed how modern online communities respond when anyone is deemed to step out of line.

For Robyn Bartlett, cyber security awareness co-ordinator at Dynamic Recovery Services, technology and social media afford us the opportunity to do and say things that we probably would never say to anyone in person. This gives a voice to those who were previously voiceless, which may not seem like a bad thing but, unfortunately, these platforms have transformed into spaces that also enable and amplify bad behaviour.

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