Cyberbullying, Toxic Online Behaviour On China’s Social Media

The recent headlines on Chinese media surrounding an executive of Baidu (China’s tech and internet services company) whose 13-year-old daughter harassed a pregnant woman online, has reignited the debate on rising cyberbullying and the role of social media for children.

The incident was apparently triggered by the woman commenting on a female Korean celebrity, which led to the 13-year-old targeting her online, even posting her personal information without permission. The girl turned her guns on someone who intervened online to defend the woman.

While no less than the company’s vice president has formally apologised, the incident highlighted the toxicity of cyberbullying and at the same time reignited the discussions on how to regulate online behaviour, protect victims, and prevent the consequences.

China has seen a surge in cyberbullying incidents despite the government enforcing preventive measures. A survey conducted in June 2023 revealed that nearly 90% of Chinese youth favour public prosecution of those involved in severe cyberbullying cases. The survey highlighted challenges victims face, including identifying anonymous perpetrators and the high costs of legal action.

Users of Douyin (Tiktok), Bilibili, Weibo, have all faced online criticism. In some cases, the criticisms lead to extreme consequences. In one bizarre case, a 23-year-old woman committed suicide after being attacked online for having pink hair. A mother in Hubei province jumped off a building after online trolls accused her to dressing up even after her son died in a hit and run accident.

Others who stood up to the online trolls had their inboxes flooded with negative messages, some even suggesting they die.

In another incident, a high school girl was bullied online, after the video of her speech went viral, and Weibo users criticize her facial expressions. The negative comments did take a toll on her mental health, but she recovered.

The survey shows many victims struggle to take legal action due to the anonymity of online bullies and the high cost of pursuing justice.

Authorities have introduced tougher measures to combat cyberbullying. In September 2023, the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, and the Ministry of Public Security issued new guidelines targeting online harassment which includes harsher penalties, stronger regulations and greater accountability for online platforms.

Adhering to this, Sina Weibo, one of China’s largest social media platforms, reported blocking over 120 million harmful posts and deleting 225,000 offensive messages to curb cyberbullying.

Online bullying is not only limited to just reactions to the incidents, the cases of fabricated photos, videos and chat circulating are increasingly taking the spotlight.

In July 2020, a man secretly filmed a female resident picking up a parcel. He then, along with a friend, fabricated chat logs suggesting she had an affair with the courier. The fake photos and videos were shared in 110 WeChat groups, generating hundreds of thousands of views and vulgar comments. This resulted in the lady losing her job.

Online bullying has now spread to online classes with sessions being hijacked by trolls who then go on to post rude and offensive comments.

Clearly, comprehensive and effective measures are needed to tackle cyberbullying but no country has been able to find a foolproof method to curb offensive online behaviour.