A Growing Issue of Online Hate in Internet

A growing issue among the internet is the amount of hate. A person can barely scroll through Instagram without seeing an insult hurled at a person because of their outfit or what they had said. They design these comments to tear a person down and kill their self-esteem. That is only the tip of the iceberg. The deeper you go the filthier it gets. Racial insults, sexism, and school shooting jokes are some common topics that a person can come across just wandering around. Online hate is growing but we cannot blame the platforms used. It's the people, not the websites or whatever megaphone they use. If we take down one megaphone, they will just use another. Muting them doesn’t make it go away.

Online hate has been around for a while but we now have a newfound focus on it. Hate has taken many forms. Mostly just kept to one person or a small group of people. But now a person can share their opinion, good or bad, to the entire world. These hate groups have been around for a while. For instance, there is a neo-nazi Facebook page that’s a few years old. These websites often mute or delete these kinds of accounts. An infamous website, 8chan, has no filter programs on its site. So anyone can post anything at any time. The idea is good, people can post want they want free of any filters. Then people had to ruin it all “After yet another mass shooting the founder of 8chan the go-to resource for violent extremists” (The WEEK Para. 1) The man responsible for the El Paso shooting use 8chan to spread his sickening ideology. In response, the founder of 8chan asked for the website to be shut down.

Why are people drawn to these kinds of websites? Websites like 8chan offer something most other websites don’t, anonymity. Someone can create an account and not have to share any personal information. Then they can do whatever they please with no worry of being discovered. These people then create little groups where they can talk about whatever they please. Most of these people don’t want to do the horrible acts they talk about and post about. It is merely a ploy for attention. A very sick ploy. But these people so desperate for attention have to sink this low only to get a few laughs. A select few people, unfortunately, aren’t joking. And we can never tell the difference between the few.

Some people’s answer to this online hate issue is to change laws so that people can be held liable for what they say online. This could have massive collateral damage. If the laws get changed, so it is possible then a person could sue you for your Facebook post. For example, if you post something about supporting children getting their immunizations and one person gets rubbed the wrong way. Then that same person could file for a lawsuit against you. At its base, it violates the person's rights. You can already sue someone for a false defamatory statement online “After posting just one sentence about a former co-worker on Facebook — a post that didn't even mention the woman by name — a North Carolina woman has to pay $500,000 to settle a defamation lawsuit.” (Good housekeeping). If they change the law a person could sue you for a statement, even if it is not slanderous. That person could sue because they don’t like your opinion.

What can we do about the post about attacking people or groups? Police already monitor these sites heavily, but the amount of data is staggering. It is nearly impossible for law enforcement to watch ever website at all times. And the police can never know if the statements people make are true or just fictitious. Time is always an issue with these cases too. Even if the police have enough evidence to get a warrant, the person could have already committed those horrible acts by the time a judge rules a warrant. But every once in a while if the stars align the police can successfully use the internet to stop a crime.

If the owner shuts down the site is this the best choice? If they shut the site down then those people will only move to another. And to get rid of hate is impossible. Humans will always want to destroy each other. There should be added filters to this site, some people don't need to be heard. The owner recognizes that shutting it down won’t end it “Shutting it down, having these chan sites pushed underground, it wouldn’t totally stop these kinds of things from happening” (New York Times). But muting hate won’t ever make it go away.