Trolling, Cyberstalking, Body-shaming, Slut-shaming A Study on Online Abuses of Social Media
Qian Zhang, Qinxuan Chen, Xinrong Gu · Communications in Humanities Research · 2024
The rapid development of social media platforms enables people to communicate among different regions and cultures. At the same time, the network's anonymity also weakens the moral bond of online users, leading to massive online abuses frequently occurring in social media. Online abuse encompasses a wide range of aggressive online activities, and this study mainly focused on trolling, cyberstalking, body shaming, and slut shaming on Chinese social media. This work conducted an exploratory online paper to explore people's experiences of the four types and to understand cyber abuse's potential emotional and behavioral impact on victims. The results shed light on the prevalence and characteristics of online abuse and the relationship between online activities and the frequency of online abuse. The insights gained from this study can help devise evidence-based strategies to tackle online abuse and promote safer online environments for all users.