A serious form of human rights violation

Cyberbullying (or “cyberbullying”, “online violence”, “Internet violence”) are acts that harm people’s honor, dignity and reputation carried out on the Internet. This is a new form of social violence, which is more dangerous and difficult to prevent and handle than traditional forms of violence.

Along with the rapid development of information technology and the Internet, cyber violence tends to spread more and more widely in all countries, including Vietnam, causing serious damage to basic human rights, especially the inviolability of honor, dignity and privacy, while destroying good cultural values and negatively affecting social order, security and safety.

The World & Vietnam Newspaper introduces a series of 3 articles, with a panoramic view of cyber violence and human rights, proposing solutions to prevent and combat cyber violence, an emerging security issue today.

Illustration photo. (Source: shutterstock)

Cyber violence is a matter of great concern in the current information technology boom. Cyber violence is illegal and unethical acts carried out in cyberspace that seriously violate many basic human rights, especially the inviolability of privacy, honor, and dignity recognized and protected by international law, the Constitution, and laws of countries.

As a manifestation of social violence, cyber violence has its own characteristics, making it more dangerous and much more difficult to prevent and handle than conventional forms of social violence.

The negative impact of cyber violence on human rights

In the US Government's Stopbullying page[1], "cyberbullying" is a term commonly used to describe acts that are harmful to the honor and dignity of others, carried out through digital platforms, using digital devices such as mobile phones, computers and tablets and expressed through SMS messages, applications, social networks, forums and online gaming environments[2]... Usually, acts of cyberbullying/violence are viewed and shared by the online community, leading to very widespread and serious negative impacts on the victims.

According to Baidu Baike , one of China's leading online encyclopedias, cyber violence is essentially an extension of social violence on online platforms, completely breaking the basic moral principles in society, so it has the potential to cause terrible harm, causing very serious and long-term mental damage to the victims, which in some cases has led to suicide.

Although an extension of social violence, cyber violence has distinct aspects compared to conventional violence, especially its diverse nature and rapid and widespread impact.

In this regard, Article 1 of Law No. 71 of 2017 of the Parliament of the Italian Republic defines cyberviolence as including “any form of psychological pressure, aggression, harassment, extortion, injury, insult, defamation, slander, identity theft, alteration, illegal collection, manipulation, illegal processing of personal data or dissemination through electronic means, including the distribution of online content aimed at malicious attack or mockery in an organized and widespread manner”[3].

Cyber violence often causes negative impacts more quickly and widely than conventional forms of violence in society, because the subjects who commit cyber violence often hide their identities and simultaneously commit acts through many online media and platforms, thereby increasing the possibility and frequency of violent acts. Not only that, acts of cyber violence are often shared and spread by the online community, unintentionally or intentionally, making its negative impacts even more severe.

As mentioned, cyber violence is first and foremost a human rights violation. Acts of cyber violence violate many fundamental human rights protected by international and national law.

Firstly, cyber violence violates the right to privacy when an individual's information is disseminated on the internet for malicious purposes without the individual's consent. Information about personal life, especially sensitive information, disseminated on the internet can cause the victim to be gossiped about, defamed or humiliated by the online community - which often leaves deep and lasting mental scars on everyone.

Second , cyber violence violates the right to protect human honor and reputation, such as insults, humiliation, defamation, slander or spreading false information about a person can cause the victim to suffer very serious damage to honor and reputation, especially when the victim often has no or very little way to respond. In most cases, victims not only suffer damage to their reputation but can also suffer serious and long-term damage socially and professionally.

Third , cyberbullying often involves unauthorized access to personal information: hacking into email, phone, and online accounts, as well as the use of spyware to monitor the victim's online activities. This behavior directly violates each person's right to protect personal information.

In addition, from a broader perspective, cyber violence also violates the inviolable rights to human life and health. Cyber violence often has a serious impact on the victim's mental health, causing the victim to fall into a state of crisis, anxiety, pressure, and even depression. In extreme cases, it can lead to the victim committing suicide.

The reality of human rights violations from cyber violence

With the development of information technology, the situation of cyber violence is taking place very complicatedly on a global scale. According to statistics from the BroadbandSearch website, 36.5% of people surveyed in the world said that they had been bullied online in their lifetime, 60% of minors had experienced online bullying and 87% of young people had witnessed online bullying.

Bạo lực mạng là một vấn đề rất được quan tâm trong giai đoạn bùng nổ công nghệ thông tin như hiện nay. (Nguồn: unicef)

Cyber violence is a matter of great concern in the current era of information technology explosion. (Source: unicef)

According to a UNICEF survey in April 2019, one-third of adolescents in 30 countries said they had been victims of cyberbullying, and one-fifth of them said they had skipped school because of cyberbullying.

In South Korea , according to statistics from the National Police Agency, the number of cyber violence cases increased by 45% between 2017 and 2020. In 2017, the Korea Communications Commission and the National Information Society Agency (NIA) of the country announced the results of the Electronic Violence Survey with 4,500 students, 380 teachers, 1,028 parents of students and 1,500 male and female adults aged 20-50, thereby showing that the rate of abuse and damage from "verbal violence online" for both students and adults is from 14.6% to 15.3%; the rate of being attacked and damaged due to acts such as online defamation, dissemination of personal information, stalking, sexual violence, cyberbullying... ranges from 7.3% to 11.9%.

The situation of cyberbullying in South Korea is very serious, as evidenced by the many suicides that have occurred due to victims being unable to withstand the pressure from online bullying. The victims are often celebrities - the subjects of frequent scrutiny and harassment by the online community. The most famous suicides were of K-pop stars Sulli and Goo Hara in 2019, which were related to malicious comments and online ridicule.

In the United States , according to a 2023 survey, 64% of young Americans aged 18-29 have been cyberbullied, 41% of adults in the United States have experienced some form of online harassment, and the number of Americans who have been physically threatened and sexually harassed online has doubled since 2014. High school-age victims of cyberbullying are nearly twice as likely to attempt suicide as non-victims.

In China , a 2022 study found that about 40% of Chinese internet users had been victims of cyberbullying[4]. There have also been several suicides due to cyberbullying, most notably in January 2023, when a student named Zheng Linghua committed suicide after months of being slandered on social media.

From the above information, it can be seen that cyber violence is increasing all over the world and is seriously affecting the honor, dignity, life and health of the victims - which are their basic human rights.

In Vietnam , according to a UNICEF survey in April 2019, 21% of Vietnamese adolescents surveyed said they were victims of cyberbullying and most (75%) were unaware of hotlines or services that could help them if they were bullied or subjected to violence online.

Another survey by the Program for Internet and Society Studies (VPIS) showed that 78% of internet users in Vietnam confirmed that they had been victims or knew of cases of hate speech on social networks; 61.7% had witnessed or become victims of slander, defamation, and defamation, and 46.6% had been slandered or had fabricated information.

According to this survey, victims are almost powerless to protect their honor and dignity, because the only way they can do is to request the removal of defamatory information on social networks, but that is often difficult and does not prevent the spread of that information.

The consequences for the victims are very serious. In 2016, a female student at Pham Ngu Lao Secondary School (Khanh Hoa) brought gasoline to burn down the school after being threatened and urged by messages on social networks. As a result, she suffered severe burns and severe psychological trauma.

In 2021, NT.N, a 13-year-old girl from Long An, due to school pressure, being boycotted and isolated on social media by her friends, she thought of committing suicide by drinking pesticide... These are just two of many tragic incidents that have happened to victims of cyber violence in Vietnam.

The above information shows that the situation of cyber violence and its consequences for human rights in Vietnam is similar to that in many other countries in the world, including an increasing trend with increasingly severe consequences.

In Vietnam, according to the law, cyber violence violates the right to protection of human honor, dignity, life and health, which is protected by the 2013 Constitution and many specialized laws.

However, due to the new and complex nature of cyberspace, as in many other countries, our country currently does not have timely and effective measures to prevent and hold cyberbullies legally and morally responsible for their cowardly and illegal acts.

Cyber violence is becoming increasingly serious, becoming a common problem in the world, including Vietnam. Acts of cyber violence have become a major threat to the human rights of billions of people on earth, and a factor that destroys the basic cultural values of societies. This situation requires countries to join hands in researching and coordinating the implementation of solutions to prevent and eliminate cyber violence in a timely, effective and thorough manner.

Lesson 2: Preventing and combating cyber violence - protecting human rights

Lesson 3: Preventing and combating cyber violence in Vietnam

[1] According to What Is Cyberbullying, https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it#:~:text=Cyberbullying%20is%20bullying%20that%20takes,participate%20in%2C%20or%20share%20content

[2] Therefore, cyber violence is sometimes referred to as “Internet violence” or “online violence”.

[3] According to https://www.coe.int/en/web/cyberviolence/italy

[4] According to https://thechinaproject.com/2023/03/29/cyberbullying-in-china-finds-victims-in-all-corners/

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