12. Cyberbullying in the LGBTQ+ community What to do to stop bullying?
The internet and social networks are virtual spaces where we interact with other people, a place in which we feel comfortable sharing experiences and moments, as well as tastes and opinions, however, there are so many people and so many ways of seeing the world. , so not everyone thinks the same way and unfortunately some people forget this and express their thoughts in a cruel way, giving rise to discrimination and humiliation.
Although people are becoming more tolerant and open-minded, there are still a large number of users who attack the LGBTQ+ community. However, young people and adolescents belonging to this community have found a space on the Internet where they can express themselves and connect with others by sharing doubts and experiences around their sexual orientation and gender identity. Being a private issue, it makes them vulnerable to those users who do not empathize and/or recognize their thoughts and feelings.
Kind of cyberbullying
Cyberbullying to the LGBTQ+ community
This type of harassment consists of annoying, humiliating and abusing people because of their sexual preferences and/or gender identity through smart devices, through the web and social networks. Victims of cyberbullying develop emotional and psychological problems, such as low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, etc. which triggers harmful behaviors such as tobacco, alcohol and drug use, self-harm and suicide attempts.
We recommend you watch this video from LikeInteligente about Cyberbullying: https://www.facebook.com/likeinteligente/videos/714264346477486
Sextorsión
It consists of threatening and extorting sexual material from the victims. There are cybercriminals waiting to take advantage of the situation and actively seeking victims to blackmail and extort. Dating apps and social media often reveal cases of online bullying where the victim has to offer a sum of money or a favor in exchange for not publicly revealing intimate content.
Digital identity theft in the LGBTQ+ Community
It happens when a false profile is created with the identity of a person belonging to the LGBTQ+ community, with the intention of taking control over their social media accounts and publishing content that publicly denigrates them or exposes personal information.
Identity phishers regularly carry out this crime with the purpose of publicly revealing the sexual orientation of their victim without their consent. Often, the harasser will try to humiliate the victim, trying to ruin their reputation, making inappropriate posts and/or comments in a derogatory or provocative tone to other users.
We share information on the steps you should follow if a Facebook account impersonates you:
https://www.facebook.com/redporlaciberseguridad/photos/138814898750479
Wokefishing
This is a technique used by cybercriminals who pose as progressive social media profiles that support the LGBTQ+ community or the feminist movement, and then commit hate crimes, insults or looting. In some cases, victims are physically attacked, recorded without their consent and later posted on the Internet.
Cybercriminals choose their victim after having investigated a group of people, the investigation is carried out through social networks. The victimizer creates false profiles with which he builds a character that resembles the interest of his next victim, from there he is in charge of talking and creating ties with her.
The main characteristic of this type of cyber fraud is that the discourse adopted by hackers is about feminism and the LGBTQ+ community, progressive attitudes, openness, anti-racism and in general guaranteeing and making effective the rights of the most harmed vulnerable groups. Once they manage to start a conversation with the victim and have gained access to their accounts, intimate material or personal information, they threaten to use it against them.
Workplace harassment
It refers to the situation in which a worker or a group of co-workers carry out a series of psychologically violent actions systematically over a period of time.
Mobbing, as it is known in English, is a form of work stress with the characteristic that it does not arise for reasons directly related to the execution or organization of work. It comes from the person-to-person relationships that arise between people. It can occur through work Messenger or WhatsApp groups in which the person is constantly harassed because of their gender and/or sexual preferences.
People from the LGBT community are constantly violated by these types of attacks, they do not feel comfortable, they feel attacked and the work environment becomes heavy.
We share a video from LikeInteligente about the damage our words cause: https://www.facebook.com/likeinteligente/videos/573484790909734
What to do in a situation of cyberbullying of the LGTBQ+ community?
Below, we present actions and measures that you can take if you are a victim of cyberbullying:
- Document and collect as much evidence as possible and go to the authorities to file a complaint.
- Report and denounce abuse on the platforms.
Remember our CiberTip #46: https://www.facebook.com/redporlaciberseguridad/photos/a.112150531416916/152850870680215/
- Manually delete offensive comments on your posts.
- Avoid sharing address and personal data with unknown users.
- Protect your privacy, the more they know about your digital identity, the more information they will have to be able to threaten and commit a crime.
Take a look at the LikeInteligente webinar that talks about digital image and identity: https://www.facebook.com/likeinteligente/videos/1201699230666739
- If you are on a date and find yourself at risk, use applications that notify the police.
- Distrust all profiles that cannot be verified through Internet search engines or that make promises that sound impossible and never give in to any type of extortion or manipulation.
- Change your social network passwords frequently to prevent the theft of your digital profiles.
bibliographic references
- https://www.redalyc.org/journal/270/27065158008/html/
- https://www.excelsior.com.mx/hacker/el-40-por-ciento-de-adolescentes-lgbt-sufren-ciberacoso/1524327
- https://espanol.stopbullying.gov/bullying/lgbtq
- https://www.pandasecurity.com/es/mediacenter/seguridad/ciberacoso-lgtbfobico/
- https://es.vpnmentor.com/blog/la-mayoria-de-lgbtqs-son-victima-de-ciberbullying-aqui-aprenderas-a-mantenerte-segur-en-internet/
