Latest news with #onlineharassment
The Guardian
14 hours ago
- The Guardian
Anger grows in China over reports of online groups sharing explicit photos of women
Anger is growing on Chinese social media after news reports revealed the existence of online groups, said to involve hundreds of thousands of Chinese men, which shared photographs of women, including sexually explicit ones, taken without their consent. The Chinese newspaper Southern Metropolis Daily published a report last week about a group on the encrypted messaging app Telegram called 'MaskPark tree hole forum'. It said it had more than 100,000 members and was 'comprised entirely of Chinese men'. Men reportedly shared sexually explicit images of women either in intimate settings or with so-called 'pinhole cameras' that can be hidden in everyday items such as plug sockets and shoes. The scandal has been compared to South Korea's 'Nth Room' case, in which women were blackmailed into sharing sexually explicit photographs of themselves with members of a Telegram group. The messaging platform is blocked in China but can be accessed by using a virtual private network, or VPN, which circumvents location controls. Hashtags related to the scandal clocked up more than 11m views on the social media platform Weibo by Thursday. But there are signs the online conversation is being censored, with some relevant searches returning the result: 'According to the relevant laws and regulations, this content cannot be shown.'. Reuters reported earlier in the week that associated hashtags had received more than 270m views. 'A woman's life is not a man's erotic novel,' wrote one user on Xiaohongshu, an Instagram-like platform also known as RedNote. Another user on Xiaohongshu, an app predominantly used by women, wrote: 'So scary! After seeing this, I've decided if the MaskPark incident isn't properly addressed, I'll never get married or have kids.' In the South Korean case, the mastermind of the chat group was eventually sentenced to 40 years in prison. In China, the penalty for taking pictures of someone without their consent is up to ten days detention and a 500 yuan (£53) fine. People who disseminate pornographic material can be sentenced to up to two years in prison. The MaskPark scandal is not the first time men have been discovered to be secretly filming women. Last year, the boss of a tech company in Beijing was found to have secretly recorded more than 10,000 videos of his female employees using the bathroom. He was detained for ten days as a punishment. 'Ten days is nothing short of encouragement,' one Weibo user wrote. Lao Dongyan, a criminal law professor at Tsinghua University, wrote on Weibo that Chinese law punished the dissemination of secretly-filmed material as an obscenity offence rather than a violation on women's rights. 'The women who were secretly filmed are the primary victims. Simply treating them as obscene materials is tantamount to treating them as the parties involved in pornographic works. This is absurd,' Lao wrote. Speaking out about feminism and women's rights has become increasingly difficult in China as the government has cracked down on civil society and activism. But some women have found ways to address misogyny in public. One method is through comedy. On a recent episode of a popular stand-up comedy television show, The King of Stand-Up Comedy, comedian Huang Yijin joked that she wore make-up even when alone in hotel rooms: 'Whenever I'm in a hotel, I just assume there are hidden cameras … there are about two million people in my room,' she said. Additional research by Lillian Yang and Jason Tzu Kuan Lu
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Yahoo
Cyberstalking has surged by 70% in the UK since 2012, study finds
On the receiving end of unsolicited text messages, emails, being harassed on live streams, or seeing personal photos posted online without your permission? If so, you could be a victim of cyberstalking, an online behaviour that is becoming more common in the UK. A new study, published in the British Journal of Criminology, found that cyberstalking is growing at a faster pace than traditional types of stalking. It examined responses from nearly 147,800 people who answered crime surveys in England and Wales. The surveys asked about the prevalence and perception of cyberstalking, physical stalking, and cyber-enabled stalking from 2012 to 2020. The UK's Crown Prosecution Office describes cyberstalking as 'threatening behaviour or unwanted advances' directed at someone online. It can be combined with other types of stalking or harassment. Related Bluetooth devices can unwittingly track your every move. Here's how to know if they're watching you Cyberstalking could include threatening or unsolicited text messages and emails, harassment on live chats, or posting photoshopped photos of a specific person, their children or workplace on social media, the office said. Cyber-enabled crimes are ones that don't depend on technology but have changed significantly because of it, like cyberbullying, trolling, or virtual mobbing. Over the eight-year period, 1.7 per cent of respondents said they had experienced cyberstalking, up from 1 per cent in 2012. Cyberstalking identified as 'wrong but not a crime' While physical stalking remains more common overall, the 70 per cent rise in cyberstalking over the eight-year period was the only type with a 'significant' increase over time, the researchers found. Complaints of physical stalking increased by 15 per cent and cyber-enabled stalking actually fell during that time period. Women, young people, and LGBTQ+ people were more likely to say they had been cyberstalked than other groups, the study found. Almost half of the respondents that had experienced cyberstalking in the previous year said their experience was 'wrong but not a crime,' which the authors found could impact the number of people that report their experience to law enforcement. Related Europol-led operation takes down pro-Russian cybercrime network 'There is a clear disconnect between the lived experience of cyberstalking and how it is understood legally and socially,' Madeleine Janickyj, one of the study's authors and a researcher in the violence, health and society group at University College London, said in a statement. 'This not only affects whether victims seek help, but also how police and other services respond,' she added. Part of the problem, Janickyj said, could be that young people are 'so used to cyberstalking that they don't see it as a crime'. The researchers said the UK government should improve public education, clarify legal definitions, and provide additional support for victims of cyberstalking.
New York Times
23-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Pat McAfee apologizes to Ole Miss student months after amplifying false rumor
Pat McAfee apologized to Ole Miss student Mary Kate Cornett on 'The Pat McAfee Show' Wednesday, months after amplifying an unsubstantiated rumor involving Cornett in February, and the subsequent fallout, which forced her to switch to online classes and move out of her dormitory. The rumor, which involved a false claim involving Cornett's romantic life, started on the anonymous messaging app YikYak, before making its way to X and later the sports talk world, including posts by Barstool personalities KFC Barstool and Jack Mac, a discussion by ESPN radio hosts in St. Louis and a mention on McAfee's show. Advertisement 'I have since learned that the story was not true and that my show played a role in the anguish caused to a great family and especially to a young woman, Mary Kate Cornett,' McAfee said on his show on Wednesday. In an interview with The Athletic in April, Cornett, who was 18 at the time, said that after the rumor took off, she had vile messages slipped under her dorm room door. Campus police told her she was a target, and she switched to online classes and moved to emergency housing. The Athletic has reached out to Cornett and her lawyer for comment on McAfee's statement. Once Cornett's phone number was posted online, she told The Athletic that she received degrading voicemails and that someone created a cryptocurrency memecoin with her name attached to it. Police showed up at Cornett's mother's house, her boyfriend faced online bullying and her grandfather received a taunting call in the middle of the night. 'I would like people to be held accountable for what they've done,' Cornett said in April. 'You're ruining my life by talking about it on your show for nothing but attention, but here I am staying up until 5 in the morning, every night, throwing up, not eating because I'm so anxious about what's going to happen for the rest of my life.' In April, weeks after first discussing the rumor, McAfee alluded to the situation during a live event in Pittsburgh, saying that he 'didn't want to add any more negativity as it was taking place' and would try to 'make some sort of silver lining in a very terrible situation.' KFC Barstool, Jack Mac and Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy also apologized for the situation. McAfee refrained from naming Cornett specifically at the time. He said on Wednesday that he waited to discuss the situation in detail until he could talk with Cornett and her family directly. Advertisement 'I recently got to meet Mary Kate and her family, and I got a chance to sincerely apologize to them and acknowledge that what I said about Mary Kate was based solely on what others were saying on the Internet or had been previously reported by others, and that we had no personal knowledge about Mary Kate or her personal life.' McAfee's show and its guests have a reputation for pushing the boundaries and are proud provocateurs. Despite that, McAfee has apologized for language in the past, such as when he described WNBA player Caitlin Clark as a 'white bitch.' The opening to his show includes the disclaimer that 'it is meant to be comedic informative' and that 'the opinions expressed on this show do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of their peers, their boss, or ESPN.' 'I deeply regret the pain that was caused,' McAfee said about Cornett on Wednesday. 'I hated watching what our show was a part of in our interviews and reading about it. And my hope is that this can be something that we all learn from going forward. I know we certainly have.'
The Sun
20-07-2025
- The Sun
A ‘spam' email sparked a horrific four-year stalking ordeal – I feared they'd kill me after receiving a sinister package
READING the email that had just landed in her inbox, Hannah Mossman Moore felt her blood run cold. She tried telling herself that it was meaningless spam - but soon, more and more messages arrived, increasingly aggressive and sinister. 5 5 The first email read: 'Dear Miss Mossman Moore, we will now take control of your online reputation." It was from an address purporting to be an online reputation management company. More messages flooded Hannah's inbox, claiming 'all hell' would break loose if she didn't pay an unspecified amount of money. Though Hannah didn't know it then, this was only the beginning. Over the next four years, she would be subjected to a horrific ordeal, during which she was stalked both online and in real life, across continents and time zones, by someone seemingly determined to ruin her life. 'You have this creep behind a screen appearing to be this powerful monster,' Hannah tells Fabulous. 'It was terrifying. I didn't feel safe walking down the street, and my family didn't feel safe. It drives you to a very dark place. 'It felt like I was at the centre of an incredibly intricate web, struggling to break free. And every time I moved, I just became more entangled.' Now, Hannah is sharing her story in Stalked, a new 10-part BBC Sounds podcast that attempts to uncover whether a chance encounter resulted in an unrelenting and escalating campaign of abuse. Hannah was just 23, fresh out of Edinburgh University and interning at a jewellery start-up, when she met Kin Hung, a 40-something Hong Kong national, at London Fashion Week on September 20, 2015. 'I was working there, trying to get the brand's jewellery into stores in Tokyo and Seoul,' she explains. I was stalked by my SAS hero boyfriend's ex...I thought I was going to die 'He told me he was well-connected in the Asian fashion market and that he could help. He took my email address.' Soon, Kin was emailing her every day. The volume of messages was overwhelming, I was blinded to the fact I was being groomed. 'He was charming and charismatic, and he knew about business and fashion, which I didn't. "I was naive and trusting,' Hannah says. 'I thought he was gay, so I didn't think he was any threat. I just thought I had a friend and mentor.' Kin often invited her to exclusive events, but the combination of only earning an intern's salary and her large workload meant Hannah rarely took up his offers. Instead, they met for the occasional coffee when Kin was in London for work. Then, in April 2016, she received a message from his email address, claiming to be from his girlfriend, followed by another claiming to be from his boyfriend, and a third, claiming to be from his 'ladyboy' lover. When she asked Kin about it, he insisted he was single and said his email account had been hacked. 'What we realised in the course of making the podcast was that it was likely that it was Kin's actual girlfriend on his account, wondering who I was and what the hell was going on,' explains Hannah. 'We believe that Kin, realising he had to cover things up, sent emails from 'the boyfriend' and 'the ladyboy' to make it look as insane as possible, so he could tell me it was a hack.' After that, everything returned to normal, and the pair continued to email daily. 'The volume of messages was overwhelming,' she says. 'I was blinded to the fact I was being groomed.' In December 2017, Kin invited Hannah to Florida to attend the glamorous Art Basel international art fair and stay with him at his crash pad in Naples, Florida. 'I remember her telling me about the trip and feeling uncomfortable,' said Hannah's former stepmum and Stalked co-host Carole Cadwalladr in the podcast. 'He was an older guy, and Hannah was very young.' Hannah, however, had no reservations. 'I'd known him for two years by that point, and I thought I knew him,' she says. 'Everyone on my flight was talking about Art Basel. It was so exciting. Then I went straight from my flight to a party at Soho Beach House with Kin.' The next day, while the pair recovered in his Florida house, Hannah's phone began to buzz with message after message from Kin's girlfriend, warning that he was 'hiding his whole real life' from her. Again, Kin claimed it was hackers. But now, Hannah wasn't so sure. I felt scared and controlled – each message was more threatening than the last Shortly afterwards, an argument developed between them. Panicked and desperate to leave, Hannah called her brother, who booked her a hotel in Miami and stayed on the phone until she was in a taxi. The next day, she caught the first available flight back to London, fending off a flurry of messages. 'Kin claimed he'd deliberately created an argument between us so 'the hackers' would think we were no longer friends and leave me alone,' she says. However, Hannah had seen a side to Kin's personality that frightened her, and after her inbox began to fill up with email after email from him, she sent a one-line reply: 'Leave me alone and let me get on with my life.' A few days later, another email landed in her inbox, this time, apparently from an online reputation company. ' I felt scared and controlled, ' recalls Hannah. 'Each message felt more threatening than the last, and soon I was getting five messages a day.' As the intimidation moved offline, Hannah, who'd had her suspicions that Kin was responsible, was now convinced. 'I began getting parcels and letters to my flat – things like a printout of an olive branch, nail polish, and a packet of Werther's Original sweets that was opened but stapled along the seal. 5 "I wondered: 'Is this person trying to kill me?' because I didn't know if they were poisoned,' she remembers. 'They were coming so often that I had a routine where I would put gloves on and carry them to the bin outside. "Sometimes I wouldn't even open them. The level of communication with who I believed to be Kin was always high, and when I cut him out of my life, it remained high – but got more and more negative.' What to do if you are being stalked By Emma Kenny, true crime physiologist Whether the signals are subtle or glaring, trust your instincts. Keep records of suspicious incidents, inform people you trust, and don't hesitate to reach out for professional and legal help if you believe you're in danger. Your safety is paramount, no one has the right to make you feel unsafe in your own life. Stalking is illegal. If you think you are in danger or being stalked, report it to the police immediately - you have a right to feel safe in your home and workplace. Call 999 if you or someone else is in immediate danger. You can get advice from the National Stalking Helpline. National Stalking Helpline Telephone: 0808 802 0300 Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 4pm (except Wednesday 9:30am to 8pm) National Stalking Helpline Find out about call charges In March 2018, Hannah moved back in with her dad, but the packages followed her there. Then, WhatsApp groups started being created by someone posing as her. 'They were set up by a number in my name and the status was 'Karma', meaning payback,' explains Hannah. 'It would be my name, my picture, and all my friends and family were added, and it would start posting terrible things that I was supposedly doing, like avoiding tax. ' Kin even popped up in these chats, defending Hannah from the accusations and threatening the hackers if they didn't leave her alone. The 'fake Hannah' also targeted the jewellery start-up she had worked for, accusing them of tax evasion, but her previous employers realised the emails were out of character and forwarded them to a lawyer. 'Behaviour escalates in line with the stalker's emotional state,' says Dr Alan Underwood, a clinical psychologist at Queen Mary University of London, who specialises in stalking threat assessment. 'I've seen cases where individuals have escalated behaviour with the intent that the person would seek them out to solve the problem or get support from them. "This allows them to feel 'connected' to the person they have targeted.' By the end of March 2018, Hannah was at breaking point. 'The stalking had completely worn me down, both mentally and physically. 'I was constantly anxious, always looking over my shoulder, and unable to sleep. It felt like I was losing parts of myself just trying to stay safe,' she says. She went to the police armed with as much evidence as she could gather, and officers attempted to arrest Kin, but could not locate him. They always managed to find out my new numbers, email addresses and social media accounts. Meanwhile, the stalking continued until, in August 2019, Hannah jumped at the offer to work in Colombo, Sri Lanka, thinking it would offer her a fresh start. She was wrong. 'In August 2019, I posted a picture of my new boyfriend, who I'd met through a mutual friend in Sri Lanka, on social media and he started receiving emails telling him what a diseased, disgusting person I was,' says Hannah. Another email to her boyfriend included a rape fantasy. 'They always managed to find out my new numbers, email addresses, and social media accounts,' adds Hannah. At the same time, she began receiving up to five emails a day from an anonymous account called Premium Escorts, informing her she was now on their books. People she was in contact with – including work contacts – began getting emails from the bogus agency, which claimed to be selling her sexual services and contained fake reviews from her former 'clients'. She was bombarded with emails addressed to 'Hooker Hani', with pornographic images attached, as well as language that implied the sender was watching her every move. One included an image of Hannah at a Halloween party on a beach, cropped into her chest. 'That picture was creepy because it didn't match any of the event pictures on the organisers' website. I don't know where he got that from,' says Hannah. Despite the continuing abuse, police were unable to confirm that all the emails had come from the same source, and the case was officially closed on January 30, 2020. Hannah returned to the UK four months later – and again, the stalking followed her. Changing email addresses, passwords and phone numbers eight times in two years had no effect. I didn't know what was going to happen next. My phone was ringing every second. I would answer, and it would go dead. It was getting worse and worse, and it followed me wherever I went. I couldn't get away from it. 'I didn't know what was going to happen next,' she says. 'My phone was ringing every second. I would answer, and it would go dead. "It was getting worse and worse, and it followed me wherever I went. I couldn't get away from it. "It was coming from so many different angles.' Then, in 2021, Hannah and Carole exchanged emails discussing the possibility of making a podcast about her ordeal. 'Within a month, everything just stopped. Emails, messages, calls. . . everything,' says Hannah, who is convinced this is proof that her emails were being read. 'I felt like I could finally breathe again, but I was still on edge waiting for something else to happen, almost suspicious that the calm wouldn't last.' In the course of making Stalked, a team of experts were called on to analyse all the emails Hannah was sent, in the hope they could reveal if Kin was solely responsible. Forensic linguists used by the FBI found that certain words and phrases in emails written by Kin also appeared in emails from her stalker. Ethical data scientists looked at the technical evidence and concluded that all the emails were coordinated from a single source – a source Hannah believes was Kin, whose current whereabouts are unknown. He has remained silent throughout the podcast run, speaking only through lawyers, strongly denying stalking Hannah and calling the podcast's allegations 'false and without foundation'. 'Right now, I'm just really loving being free from all of this,' says Hannah, who is still trying to make sense of what happened. 'I've been in survival mode for the last 10 years, and now I'm living life again. I also feel a big responsibility to use my voice and platform to help all the women who are in the shadows right now. "That was me for so long, and I didn't know where to turn,' she says. 'I still have days where I feel scared. It's hard to fully relax after living in fear for so long. "The emotional impact definitely doesn't disappear overnight. But, mostly, I feel more powerful now. I know I have a purpose.' Stalked is available on BBC Sounds now.
Malay Mail
20-07-2025
- Malay Mail
AI and ethics can help stop online harassment — Lim Jo Yi, He Xiaoyan and Mohd Istajib Mokhtar
JULY 20 — From school halls to digital spaces, moral and civic education teaches us to be helpful, considerate, and kind members of society. Yet, despite these teachings, various forms of harm continue to plague both physical and online worlds. One such issue is online harassment—also commonly referred to as cyberbullying. Online harassment has become a distressingly common experience for many internet users. It involves acts of aggression, intimidation, or abuse carried out across digital platforms. According to researchers like Leduc and colleagues in Computers in Human Behavior, it can take many forms—disinformation, name-calling, threats, sexual harassment, and public humiliation. This digital abuse can affect people from all walks of life, although certain demographic factors such as ethnicity, age, and gender may influence how likely someone is to experience it. Pew Research Center reports by Monica Anderson in 2018 and more recent updates by Atske in 2024 highlight how widespread and persistent the issue is, particularly among teens. Similarly, a Malaysian-based study published in BMJ Open by Samsudin and colleagues in 2023 found that young adults experiencing cyberbullying often also report psychological distress and strained family dynamics. In Malaysia, researchers Kee, Anwar, and Vranjes pointed out in 2024 that online harassment is a risk factor for suicidal thoughts among youth. Often, the abuse stems from prejudice—negative stereotypes based on religion, ethnicity, gender, or even personal interests can quickly snowball into digital attacks. Victims may receive a barrage of cruel messages, mockery, or hate comments targeting their identity. Cultural norms can also fuel the problem. When mocking or humiliating others is treated as entertainment, especially in online communities, abusers feel emboldened. The anonymity of the internet offers a protective mask that emboldens people to say what they would never say face-to-face. Combined with the misuse of free speech, this creates a digital culture that tolerates—even encourages—harmful behaviour. The effects of online harassment are not limited to bruised egos. Victims often face serious mental health challenges. Studies by Dr Cheryl Nixon in 2014 reveal how victims may suffer from depression, anxiety, disrupted sleep patterns, appetite loss, and even suicidal ideation. These psychological effects can lead to social withdrawal, strained relationships, and a deep sense of helplessness. Embarrassment, fear, and self-blame are common emotional responses. Many victims, especially teens and young adults, avoid telling friends or family about their experiences, which only amplifies their isolation. Can ethics and AI offer solutions? As technology evolves, so do our opportunities to address online harassment in smarter ways. — Reuters pic A landmark case in Canada, R. v. Elliott in 2016, highlighted the legal implications of online abuse. The case was connected to Rehtaeh Parsons, a 17-year-old girl who took her life after a photo of her sexual assault was widely shared online, followed by relentless digital harassment. Although initial investigations failed to yield justice, public outcry prompted a renewed effort that led to charges under Canada's Cyberbullying Prevention Act—also known as Bill C-13. This tragic case led to legislative reform. Nova Scotia passed 'Rehtaeh's Law,' the first of its kind in Canada, which broadened the legal definition of cyberbullying and provided new tools for law enforcement to act. Writing in Crime, Media, Culture, researcher Alice Dodge in 2023 emphasised how the case shifted public perception of cyberbullying—from a social issue to a serious crime requiring legal intervention. Can ethics and AI offer solutions? As technology evolves, so do our opportunities to address online harassment in smarter ways. Media ethics plays a key role here. Researchers like Milosevic and colleagues in 2022, writing in the International Journal of Bullying Prevention , argue that media platforms must uphold ethical standards that prioritise harm reduction. This includes creating clear content guidelines, efficient reporting mechanisms, and psychological support systems for those affected. Media outlets should portray victims with dignity and avoid sensationalising abuse, while ensuring perpetrators are held accountable. Technology, particularly artificial intelligence, could also help stem the tide. AI-powered moderation tools, if designed ethically, can assist in identifying abusive content and preventing its spread. But these systems must prioritise fairness, transparency, and accountability. Many current algorithms are geared toward boosting engagement—even if that means promoting provocative or harmful content. Instead, platforms need to redesign algorithms to avoid amplifying negativity. As highlighted by Zubiaga in the International Review of Information Ethics in 2021, tech companies must also be transparent about how moderation decisions are made and offer clear ways for users to report abuse. Ultimately, it's not just up to lawmakers, media companies, or AI developers. All internet users share the responsibility to create a culture of empathy, respect, and mutual accountability. By standing against online harassment, speaking up for victims, and supporting efforts for ethical technology, we can help make digital spaces safer for everyone. * This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail .
