Cyberbullying against LGBT people online

Talking about the internet as if it were a novelty is a thing of the past, now that it plays such a central role in our lives. Unfortunately, what is not yet a thing of the past are the smear campaigns, gratuitous insults and defamatory remarks that we encounter on social media and forums – which have been on the rise of late, particularly against LGBT people. The sense of impunity and the ease with which people can be attacked make social media a breeding ground for this kind of behaviour.

When these attacks go from being sporadic or isolated incidents to becoming a continuous pattern directed at a specific person, they become what we know as cyberbullying. This can take various forms, such as making threatening or offensive comments about someone, sending threatening or insulting private messages from various accounts created solely for that purpose, publishing images or videos of the victim without their consent with the intention of causing them harm, or spreading rumours or lies aimed at undermining the reputation or image of the person being targeted. Even simply mentioning a person’s sexual orientation in the media can be an affront to their honour and constitute a breach of privacy, if such a statement is unrelated to the news story in question.

Smear campaigns and character assassination can cause serious harm to the person they are directed at. Not only can their reputation and dignity be damaged, but they also tend to cause psychological consequences, meaning the victim may need professional help to be able to move on. Furthermore, the fact that this takes place on social media helps to amplify its reach, which in some cases can even be international, and means that it is sometimes almost impossible to remove the content from the internet once it has been published.

Cyberbullying may constitute various offences, including defamation and slander, threats, offences against moral integrity, or even a punishable offence of hate speech. Similarly, if reputational, moral or psychological harm is caused, we can take the matter to court to seek compensation for such harm. To protect ourselves from this type of attack, we must take action as soon as possible to prevent harm, and, should harm have already been caused, to seek compensation for it.

In most cases, the best response is to block and report the account that is attacking us, but this is simply not effective when it comes to ongoing harassment and/or when public comments are being made that are gaining widespread circulation. Most cases go unreported, as victims are sometimes unaware of their rights or believe that the process might lead to further victimisation, when this need not be the case. Seeking proper advice is the first step towards effectively putting a stop to harassment.

In cases of cyberbullying, we should seek professional advice straight away to try to reach an out-of-court settlement involving the removal of all offensive content that has been posted, a public apology and, where appropriate, financial compensation. If this is not possible, we would bring legal proceedings to put an end to the harassment. If you have any queries about your specific case, please contact us and we will help you resolve the dispute as quickly and discreetly as possible.