14 DAY TRIAL // Three women from Canada have started Facebook Group “We Are Against Bullying,” to put an end to cyberbullying against teenagers whose lives have been ruined by online harassment.
They were motivated by trolls rudely attacking Amanda Todd on Facebook, bullying her even after her death.
Lindsay Ulsifer, Christine Claveau, and Melissa Buck call themselves crusaders against the phenomenon. They have suffered similar incidents when they were younger, and are trying to stop cyberbullies.
The group collects links to Facebook pages and posters that mock Todd's person and her struggle, even posting on her memorial pages, and then report them for abuse. They constantly submit their finds to Facebook's Community Standards.
Facebook keeps a record of hate speech, threats and harassment, and immediately acts to terminate accounts that originate said comments.
“Facebook does not tolerate bullying or harassment. We allow users to speak freely on matters and people of public interest, but take action on all reports of abusive behavior directed at private individuals. Repeatedly targeting other users with unwanted friend requests or messages is a form of harassment,” the official Facebook guidelines read.
The group has resorted to aggressive action when they noted the harmful comments made by user Justin Hutchings, and contacted his employer, Mr. Big & Tall, who proceeded to fire the man. He had written “Thank god that bitch is dead” before being reported.
So far, the group have succeeded in shutting down 20 other Facebook accounts due to records of bullying, and have shown that they will not stop at affecting trolls' online personas, but will go after them in the real world.
“It's completely different now. [...] It used to be bullying by people talking about you and telling you rumors about stuff you did. [...] Now it's a whole new level, and it's risky. It's everywhere. There's Facebook. There's MySpace. There's YouTube. There's Twitter. There are so many places that you can bully, and it's completely out of hand," 22-year-old Melissa Buck told the Daily Dot.