Anonymous Online Presence and Harassment

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The option to remain anonymous is a prevalent feature in information technology and online platforms. Anonymity is commonly associated with namelessness, detachment, and lack of recognition. Anonymity is defined as a state of being unidentifiable by others due to a lack of coordination between known and unknown trait(s) that an individual possesses.[1] Each trait is a part of a collection of unique interconnected traits that make up one’s identity. The disunion of these identifying attributes allow an individual to remain unknown.

There are various ways to achieve anonymity online that are both technical and behavioral. Some common behavioral strategies for protecting identity include use of false profile photos, fictitious names (also known as pseudonyms), and obscuring or inventing biographical information when asked for personal information.[2] A skilled user may choose more technical methods such as using proxy servers, VPNs, systems to hide IP address, or manually changing their IP address.[3]

Anonymity allows for both positive and negative online interactions and behavior. The protection anonymity has is favorable to users because it reduces social risk and facilitates free expression such as discussing unpopular opinions and socially stigmatized topics online. However a user's sense of protection can cultivate an environment of negativity, harassment, and ethical implications. Users are able to use harsh or rude language and engage in illegal activity without fear of being identified by other users. Protection empowers individuals to behave freely across information technologies.

Marx's Definition of Anonymity

Gary T. Marx, Sociology Scholar

Gary T. Marx, a scholar in the field of sociology defines a conceptualization of anonymity based on 7 different dimensions. He said to be deemed as fully anonymous a person cannot be identified by the following 7 categories:[4]

  1. Legal name
  2. Locatability
  3. Linkable pseudonyms
  4. Nonlinkable pseudonyms
  5. Pattern knowledge
  6. Social categorization
  7. Symbols of eligibility-noneligibility

Reasons for Anonymity Online

While there are many reasons an individual may want to remain anonymous online some include free self expression without identification, avoiding consequences as a result of questionable actions, minimizing discrimination, and privacy. With anonymity, users are able to hide, distort, change, and multiply identities across the web. The uses of anonymity may overlap and are not mutually exclusive. In all these cases anonymity serves as a form of protection from a potential repercussion. The nature of anonymity allows behavior online that can potentially be positive, negative, or neutral.

A study done by The Department of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University described a threat model that was common among participants seeking anonymity online. The threat model outlines 5 different categories connected to reasons users want to protect their identity. Users view certain entities as threats and seek protection through anonymity. The 5 threat categories are online predators, organizations, known others, other users on the site or in the community, and unknown others.[5] In this particular study online predators commonly referred to hackers, scammers, criminals, and stalkers. The organization category refers to government and businesses. Government was specifically seen as threat because of their ability to punish unlawful online activity. On the other hand businesses and companies were viewed as a threat due to the potential mishandling of user information by reuse and selling to scammers and marketers. Users also named known others as a threat because of potential harassment possibly by former friends, or controlling family members. In each category protection and privacy are common themes.

Benefits of Online Anonymity

Protecting Victim Identity

Terry Crews responds to celebrities mocking his sexual assault disclosure

Individuals experiencing hardship or trauma may seek support groups and community to heal. Online platforms and technology provide people with quick and convenient access to a variety of online communities where they can connect with others. For example, a sexual abuse survivor may choose to refrain from disclosing their identity due to the responses they could receive for revealing sensitive information.[6] A common feature on these platforms is the ability of others to comment and interact with posted content. The context of a sexual abuse post may elicit different types of responses. For example, in 2017 the #MeToo movement lead to an increase in sexual assault victims coming forward with their stories on online platforms, such as Twitter. The hashtag was intended to spread awareness and support on a socially stigmatized topic. In October of 2017 Terry Crews, an actor and former professional football player tweeted about his experience as a sexual assault victim in Hollywood. Crews received responses back blaming him for not defending himself.[7] Victim blaming comments can affect the mental health of the victim and invalidate their experiences. Anonymity works both ways and will not prevent insensitive comments. However by the victim remaining anonymous the negative discourse is unlikely to continue offline if they cannot be identified.

Giving Employees a Voice

In the workplace environment it can be difficult for managers to solicit honest feedback from employees. Employees may be concerned with job security and potential backlash for pointing out a workplace concern. Participants in a 2019 study advocated for the option to offer anonymous input to management to promote legitimate feedback.[8] In this particular study, the feedback was often given in the form of anonymous surveys and an online portal used by the employer's company. Employees reported feeling they had a voice and one anonymous respondent explained how anonymity eliminated the fear of repercussions.[9] One participant described a quarterly townhall meeting held by their company where digital tools allowed employees to anonymously ask the CEO questions every quarter.[10]

Informing Customers by eWOM

eWOM, electronic word-of-mouth, has become an integral part to inform potential buyers about quality, accuracy, and performance of products and services, especially in e-commerce. Shopping websites, customer review websites, discussion pages, and blogs allow people on the internet to share opinions about products, services, and experiences on the web. For example, a major feature on Amazon.com allows shoppers to view and write reviews for products and services. Customers are encouraged and incentivized to add more reviews to Amazon.com to improve the shopping experience for all customers. Soon after making a purchase through Amazon, customers are sent a reminder to write a review for their recent purchase. Consumers report trusting peer reviews more than advertisements because peers are regarded as more reliable than companies.[11] The option to give anonymous reviews is considered an important element in increasing the number of reviews because users feel more comfortable being honest when unidentifiable.[12] Websites like Amazon increasingly rely on feedback from review readers to evaluate review helpfulness and quality.[13]. Feedback is frequently solicited by asking questions like "Was this review helpful to you?".[14]

Consequences of Online Anonymity

Disinformation and Sharing Fake News

Disinformation is the intentional spread of inaccurate information. Disinformation is a big concern because it can be harmful and discredit news media, and journalism on a large scale. It also has the potential to disrupt democracy and alter the communities views and perspectives. Many platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook allow users to share visual content such as photos and videos. Misleading visual content is dangerous due to its ability to persuade viewers of its credibility.[15] The account creation process does not prohibit users from creating inaccurate personas and accounts. Using anonymity and misconstruing the identity of the account owner can pose a threat to transparency on online platforms. Actors are able to easily manipulate visual content and achieve their intended goal when the audience takes information out of context. Once the inaccurate information is released, social media makes it easy to reshare and repost deceitful content unknowingly. This behavior leads to misinformation, unintentional presentation of false information as truth. The complexity of artificial intelligence (AI) allows for completely fabricated content to be made. For example, there is video evidence of Obama referring to Trump as a “a total and complete dipshit”.[16] It was discovered that the video was a deep fake, and product of AI. A deep fake refers to fake videos that are audiovisual illusions intended to suggest that someone did or said something that never happened. Deep fakes and cheap fakes have become increasingly relevant in the technological sphere and are weapons for disinformation.

Spreading Extremist Ideas and Propaganda

The internet is a popular place for extremists groups to reside. It is beneficial for these extremist groups to remain anonymous to exist in spaces where others may disagree with their ideals. Websites, social media, and the Dark Net are easily accessible from everywhere and allow postings, sharing of messages, and more. For this reason there has been a large migration of extremists into cyberspace, especially platforms such as TikTok. TikTok is an online platform for video sharing and is most commonly used for comedy, dancing, and singing. However in late 2019, ISIS content that aimed to recruit people was discovered on the platform.[17] There were reports of content praising militants incorporating TikTok filters and trendy emojis. Additionally, there were reports of Nazism and violent white supremacy that advocated for murders of ethnic minorities.[18] There continues to be a plethora of politically charged content finding its way onto platforms that were intended for a different purpose. Extremists and actors have found a way to take advantage of the features associated with social media sights such as background music, emojis, hashtags, tagging, reshares, and more. An important concern considered is the age of the TikTok audience. The app targets younger adults and teenagers, whom can be susceptible to propaganda and sensitive content.

Ethical Implications

Right to Privacy

Anonymity and privacy are closely related and a topic of debate in the virtual world. Some perspectives in the US argue that anonymity is required to help uphold human rights to privacy and free expression. Anonymity is seen as a right that needs to be protected along with the rest of constitutional rights granted to citizens. Anonymity is thought to be a facilitator in democratic society, allowing voters, political dissidents, and corporate whistle blowers to operate without fear of negative consequences. In addition, pseudonyms and identity protection shield people like journalists and activists from violence outside of the virtual environment.[19] This perspective defends online anonymity and believes it is unfair and unethical to take this feature away.

Although some perspectives advocate to protect anonymity as a right, there are invisible forces behind the scenes that are tracking information about online users all the time. This prompts the question if true anonymity is possible in the online sphere. A user may appear anonymous to other users online because of the "uncoordinality" of their traits, but algorithms working behind the scenes may no more information other than what users have intentionally put out there about themselves.[20] Big Data and national security measures threaten complete anonymity and are highly discussed ethical considerations. More and more internet interactions are being monitored and recorded by Big Data such as clicks, comments, and transactions.[21] Significant data collection make users more identifiable by coordinating traits and tracking online behavior.

Lack of Accountability

Anonymity can be used to protect identity in ways that enable mischievous behavior. For this reason anonymity becomes a difficult topic to defend as it can lead to criminal activity such as child pornography, illegal gambling, as well as human and drug trafficking.[22] The lack of accountability and punishment for the behavior of offenders encourages such activity online. Offenders are able to mask their identity and obscure profiles to represent whatever they desire. The internet also enables multiplicity, which is the ability to create multiple different identities online. With the click of a button users can create, delete, and duplicate accounts with both factual and inaccurate information. A large societal concern is the cyber-grooming of children. While a child is safely at home, they are vulnerable to child-abusers reaching out to them online. This type of behavior involves unmonitored exchange of inappropriate and sexually explicit content with children via photos, videos, webcams, and chats. For example, on Facebook, an adult sexual-predator connected with an 11 year old online and exposed his genitals to the child via Facebook webcam.[23] Vulnerable populations like children continue to be targets for online sexual-abuse.

Another heavily discussed ethical concern related to anonymity is cyberbullying and hate comments. Anonymity can allow for depersonalization, a separation from self in regards to body, mind, and thought. For this reason individuals may feel inclined to behave in ways unlike their real life behavior. The lack of accountability also instills bravery into individuals to communicate without repercussions that they may experience with face to face contact. Comments may contain some form of racism, sexism, and/or reinforce harmful stereotypes about groups of people.

Relationship Between Anonymity, Accountability, and Harassment

Anonymity, harassment, and accountability are closely related. Instances of anonymity raise concerns about accountability. A scholar named Kathleen Wallace makes a comparison between accountability and the Ring of Gyges scenario in Plato's parable. Gyges's ring makes him invisible whenever he wears it. Wallace said that the point of the parable is to emphasis the dangers of invisibility.[24] She says that "a successfully unjust person relies on strategies to avoid accountability for their actions".[25] The ring is used as analogy to anonymization to show how anonymity and can empower individuals to engage in unethical and criminal activity with impunity.[26] Unethical behavior can take many forms such as harassment, hate speech, and stalking. Lack of accountability is created by anonymity which enables harassment in the online sphere.

Cases of Online Harassment

Harassment is not always clearly defined in online platform policy. However, Instagram and Twitter have outlined certain behaviors that are unacceptable such as "repeated unwanted contact" and "reported behaviors one sided or included threats".[27] Abuse, bullying, harm, hate, stalking, and threats are most commonly identified as harassment behavior on online platforms.[28]

The Fappening

Reddit.com is a platform that establishes a community for social news and discussion. Reddit.com has been at the center of attention for controversial online activity in more than one instance. The design of Reddit's platform has allowed the space to promote and spread anti-feminist content. In 2014 a series of anti-feminist activism unfolded on Reddit's website. One case was referred to as "The Fappening", which was the illegally acquired nudes of celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence[29]. The women were victimized and the nudes were then circulated and commented on anonymously through Reddit and 4chan. The comments were alarming and the posts became extremely popular at the time of the leaks. Many users "upvoted" the content which caused Reddit's algorithm to feature links to the posts and website traffic increased significantly.

Zoë Quinn, Depression Quest Creator

#Gamergate

Gamergate was an ill motivated campaign to spread hate by harassing women in the gaming community. This started in 2014 with a post about a breakup with a the gaming creator of Depression Quest (DQ), Zoë Quinn. The post had great detail about the relationship between Eron Gjoni and Zoë Quinn and included screenshots of alleged Facebook messages between the two. Zoë Quinn was previously harassed online after releasing DQ, which included rape and death threats. The post from Eron delegitimized Zoe by attributing her success in gaming to sleeping around with gaming journalists.[30] The anti-feminist attacks became widespread, not only targeting Zoë, but other women and allies in the community as well. The campaign picked up steam and coined the hashtag #Gamergate. The nature of Reddit allowed fabricated accounts to engage with the related content. The lack of punishment and accountability allowed the campaign to flourish and grow. This incident brought to light serious ethical concerns in gaming journalism.

Euro 2020 Racism

England and Italy faced off in the 2020 European Futbol Championship. After a long game both teams had to participate in penalty kicks to decide a winner. The penalty kicks ended in an Italy victory, leaving England with a heartbreaking defeat.[31] Fans watching blamed three English players for the loss of the game, all which missed their penalty kick. The three players were Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, and Bukayo Sake, all of whom are black players. Social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter erupted with racist and offensive comments toward the three black men. Some thought Twitter and Instagram should be held accountable for the racist comments and buckle down on moderating harmful content. Identity masking promoted interaction with racially charged content. The internet offers another space for sports fan interactions. Some of the interactions exhibit public humiliation of sport organizations, teams, and players.

Fake Facebook Accounts and Stalking

A man named Michael McGuire cyberstalked a Minnesota woman for years and was eventually sentenced to time in prison on July 30th, 2021. He met a woman on an online dating website and sustained a relationship for about 7 months before the woman broke up with him. The woman then began receiving a slew of harassing texts and emails from McGuire. McGuire then took the harassment a step further and created several fake Facebook accounts that he used to portray the woman in a negative light. The profiles used her name and image on the profile and included sexually explicit messages about the woman.[32] He then sent out friend requests to her family and friends in an attempt to humiliate her. The man also shared sexually explicit content of the victim with the community via yard signs, and flyers. He also included her personal contact information in the attacks.

References

  1. Wallace, Kathleen A. (2018). Online Anonymity. In Himma and Tavani, pp. 165-190.
  2. Why do people seek anonymity on the internet? informing ... (n.d.). Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://cs.cmu.edu/~xia/resources/Documents/kang-chi13.pdf.
  3. Why do people seek anonymity on the internet? informing ... (n.d.). Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://cs.cmu.edu/~xia/resources/Documents/kang-chi13.pdf.
  4. Wallace, Kathleen A. (2018). Online Anonymity. In Himma and Tavani, pp. 165-190.
  5. Why do people seek anonymity on the internet? informing ... (n.d.). Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://cs.cmu.edu/~xia/resources/Documents/kang-chi13.pdf.
  6. Nazanin Andalibi, Oliver L. Haimson, Munmun De Choudhury, and Andrea Forte. 2018. Social Support, Reciprocity, and Anonymity in Responses to Sexual Abuse Disclosures on Social Media. ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact. 25, 5, Article 28 (October 2018), 35 pages, https://doi.org/10.1145/3234942.
  7. Tommy J. Curry (2019) Expendables for Whom: Terry Crews and the Erasure of Black Male Victims of Sexual Assault and Rape, Women's Studies in Communication, 42:3, 287-307, https://doi.org/10.1080/07491409.2019.1641874
  8. Cardon, P. W., Huang, Y., & Power, G. (2019). Leadership Communication on Internal Digital Platforms, Emotional Capital, and Corporate Performance: The Case for Leader-Centric Listening. International Journal of Business Communication, https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488419828808.
  9. Cardon, P. W., Huang, Y., & Power, G. (2019). Leadership Communication on Internal Digital Platforms, Emotional Capital, and Corporate Performance: The Case for Leader-Centric Listening. International Journal of Business Communication, https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488419828808.
  10. Cardon, P. W., Huang, Y., & Power, G. (2019). Leadership Communication on Internal Digital Platforms, Emotional Capital, and Corporate Performance: The Case for Leader-Centric Listening. International Journal of Business Communication, https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488419828808.
  11. Tong Bao, Tung-lung Steven Chang, Finding disseminators via electronic word of mouth message for effective marketing communications, Decision Support Systems, Volume 67, 2014, Pages 21-29, ISSN 0167-9236, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2014.07.006.
  12. Ismail Erkan & Chris Evans (2018) Social media or shopping websites? The influence of eWOM on consumers’ online purchase intentions, Journal of Marketing Communications, 24:6, 617-632, https://doi.org/10.1080/13527266.2016.1184706.
  13. Philip Fei Wu, Motivation crowding in online product reviewing: A qualitative study of amazon reviewers, Information & Management, Volume 56, Issue 8, 2019, 103163, ISSN 0378-7206, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2019.04.006.
  14. Philip Fei Wu, Motivation crowding in online product reviewing: A qualitative study of amazon reviewers, Information & Management, Volume 56, Issue 8, 2019, 103163, ISSN 0378-7206, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2019.04.006.
  15. Paris, B. & Donovan, J. (August, 2021). Long on Profit and Years Behind: Platforms and the Fight Against Audiovisual Disinformation. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Special Section: Visual Mis- and Disinformation, Social Media, & Democracy 98 (3), 641 - 664, https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990211035395.
  16. Paris, B. & Donovan, J. (August, 2021). Long on Profit and Years Behind: Platforms and the Fight Against Audiovisual Disinformation. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Special Section: Visual Mis- and Disinformation, Social Media, & Democracy 98 (3), 641 - 664, https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990211035395.
  17. Gabriel Weimann & Natalie Masri (2020) Research Note: Spreading Hate on TikTok, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2020.1780027.
  18. Gabriel Weimann & Natalie Masri (2020) Research Note: Spreading Hate on TikTok, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2020.1780027.
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  20. Wallace, Kathleen A. (2018). Online Anonymity. In Himma and Tavani, pp. 165-190.
  21. Andrew, J., Baker, M. The General Data Protection Regulation in the Age of Surveillance Capitalism. J Bus Ethics 168, 565–578 (2021), https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04239-z.
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  23. Nikolovska, M. (2020). The Internet as a creator of a criminal mind and child vulnerabilities in the cyber grooming of children. JYU dissertations.
  24. Wallace, Kathleen A. (2018). Online Anonymity. In Himma and Tavani, pp. 165-190.
  25. Wallace, Kathleen A. (2018). Online Anonymity. In Himma and Tavani, pp. 165-190.
  26. Wallace, Kathleen A. (2018). Online Anonymity. In Himma and Tavani, pp. 165-190.
  27. Jessica A. Pater, Moon K. Kim, Elizabeth D. Mynatt, and Casey Fiesler. 2016. Characterizations of Online Harassment: Comparing Policies Across Social Media Platforms. In Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Supporting Group Work (GROUP '16). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 369–374, https://doi.org/10.1145/2957276.2957297
  28. Jessica A. Pater, Moon K. Kim, Elizabeth D. Mynatt, and Casey Fiesler. 2016. Characterizations of Online Harassment: Comparing Policies Across Social Media Platforms. In Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Supporting Group Work (GROUP '16). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 369–374, https://doi.org/10.1145/2957276.2957297
  29. Massanari, Adrienne. (2015). #Gamergate and The Fappening: How Reddit’s Algorithm, Governance, and Culture Support Toxic Technocultures. New Media & Society 19 (3): 229-46.
  30. Massanari, Adrienne. (2015). #Gamergate and The Fappening: How Reddit’s Algorithm, Governance, and Culture Support Toxic Technocultures. New Media & Society 19 (3): 229-46.
  31. Landler, M. (2021, July 12). After defeat, England's black soccer players face a racist outburst. The New York Times. Retrieved January 27, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/12/world/europe/england-european-championships-racism.html
  32. Cresco man will spend a decade in federal prison for "tormenting" Minnesota woman for Two Years. The United States Department of Justice. (2021, August 2). Retrieved January 27, 2022, from https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndia/pr/cresco-man-will-spend-decade-federal-prison-tormenting-minnesota-woman-two-years.