History of Online Vigilantism
Ever since the beginning of mankind, there had always been a form of public shaming, however, with social media, it has given public shaming a new form.Online vigilantism or internet vigilantism is the action of an individual monitoring the activities of others, rather than letting the justice system work on their own. The goal of online vigilantism is to enforce or achieve justice through means of unauthorized channels.
In recent years, cases of online vigilantism have been rampant ever since the rise of social media in everyone’s lives. With many cases showing the participation of the general public in social issues that are happening in the country, online vigilantism has been debated constantly not only online but also in the media.
What is Online Vigilantism?
Online vigilantism mainly started from the action of doxxing, which is publishing of personal information of a particular subject on the internet (mainly in social media such as facebook and twitter), with malicious intent. The main idea of online vigilantism is to publicly shame their target in order to get a response from the authorities or in the lack of any response from the authorities.
Thesis
In my opinion, online vigilantism is a double-edged sword, tho there is much justification of the action made by the online vigilantism community, however, the real-life consequences of the act might outweigh the benefits of online vigilantism. Below, we will discuss the reason for online vigilantism, the examples of online vigilantism and also the effects that online vigilantism cause.
Why people resort to online vigilantism?
In general, the public resort to the act of doxxing or online vigilantism when there is an absence of consequences by the authorities. When there is an issue that is posted online, usually in the form of video, the general public that is active on social media wants an immediate gratification or response to the issue at hand. Thus the idea of online vigilantism was ignited when the public takes the matter into their own hands.
When there is a gap that had been left out due to the authorities not being able to respond on time, the online community began to fill up the role of the judge and executioner. This meant that they are willing to do whatever it takes in order the serve justice as they seem fit, which may include exposing personal and private information on the social media in order to “punish” the said target and bring in the mob to berate and intentionally causing hardship to the victim.
Examples of Online Vigilantism
There are countless examples of online vigilantism, especially in recent years. However, below are a number of cases that strikes out the most.
Kevin Hart, Oscars (Global)
Kevin Hart, a well-renowned comedian that is loved by all, had been announced to be the host of the 91st Oscars Academy Awards ceremony but just within a few weeks of the announcement. He decided to publicly step down from the opportunity after a series of his old homophobic tweet had been resurfaced on the internet.
The issue had been started by a tweet of a single man who had decided to take matters in his own hand and point out the homophobic tweets that were posted by Kevin Hart more than 7 years before the announcement of his hosting. Although he had spoken of the issues beforehand, this did not stop the community to start attacking and berating the man causing a huge backlash online. This one little action had caused a huge spark of debate in the community which single-handedly affected Kevin Hart’s reputation which then he had decided to make the choice of stepping down from the opportunity that he had dreamt of for many years as he believed that it was the right thing to do and not to allow further backlashes.
