Researchers at the University of Georgia have found that there is a link between excessive social media use and cyberbullying behaviors. Amanda Giordano, the principal investigator of the social media addication study mentions the role of dopamine and social media and said, “It’s feeding into that addictive behavior, and they may be using cyberbullying as a way to get likes, shares, comments and retweets.”

“Digital Self-Harm” or “Self-Cyberbullying” is when individuals cyberbully themselves online. This is often done by using a fake account and posting negative comments on their own posts.

Riley Basford was blackmailed by a new Facebook friend and died by suicide on March 30. His family is calling for awareness in an attempt to prevent this from happening to other children in the future.

Multiple schools were put on lockdown in past weeks after receiving threatening calls that were proven to be swatting calls upon further investigation. According to 911.gov, swatting is false reporting an emergency to public safety by a person with the intent of getting a SWAT team response to a location where no emergency exists. 

Last week, The Daily podcast, by The New York Times, shared an episode about how a family’s reputation came into question when lies and false claims about them began to appear online. The story touches on the complexity of the current state of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, how lies are able to be posted online without consequence, and how this impacts individuals experiencing slander or defamation online.