How to deal with trolls (cyber bullying)

Cyber bullying or harassment, often referred to as trolling, is when negative posts or comments are made online with the intention to offend, defame, threaten or insult someone. This is something which is on the rise because of how easy it is to post or comment online and the belief of lack of consequence because the bullying or harassment is not done in person or done anonymously. Social media platforms make this particularly easy to do.

Often this is not anything to take too seriously and a few easy security steps added to your online profiles can pre-empt and protect you from being trolled. Call WeloveIT for some advice on how to do this.

Trolling can however, become more serious, if the post goes viral or causes harm to your business or reputation.

Here are some steps you can follow if you have been trolled-

1. Report the harassment to the social network on which it occurred

Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have options to report an offensive page, post or comment and they have the ability to remove these from their sites.

2. Watch out for phoenix pages

When a page or post is removed, the offender may re-post again, keep an eye out for this and report it again should this occur.

3. Report the harassment to the police

If the content is very serious and poses a threat to you or is negatively impacting your ability to go about your daily life, this is generally an acceptable time to contact the police.

Unfortunately, if the offender is in a different country to you, there is little the police will be able to do to help you. Contact WeloveIT for advice on how to report and stop the offender.

4. Attempt to salvage your reputation

This is something we can help with. An IT expert can assist in removing and hiding negative content from the web and initiate campaigns to counter the negative content.

For any questions, call us on 011 486 4151