Violence in social networks : Psychologists’ and psychiatrists’ views on the issue

According to the founding president of Eduk-Media, Blaise Pascal Andzongo, hate speech is a societal phenomenon. Individuals react to social frustrations, to social tensions by sending back violent and hateful speech.

Elvis Serge NSAA

In Cameroon, hate speech on social networks causes psychological damage. On a daily basis, Internet users type, film, publish and share scenes of violence on the “virtual world”. As a result, social media have become a battleground in Cameroon. Every day, we witness oratorical jousts that often involve people who are unaware of the psychological and social consequences of their publications. “We read insulting or discriminatory messages on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp and Snapchat,” writes Simruy Ikiz. According to psychiatrist Laure Menguene, this is the transposition of a social malaise onto the virtual. Social networks have become the receptacle of images taken at the time of fights, fires, crimes and murders. According to Simruy Ikiz, when you start looking for these events on the Internet, you find a large number of similar suicides following
cyber harassment or the exhibition of rapes or even intimate
moments.
According to the founding president
of Eduk-Media, Blaise Pascal Andzongo, hate speech is a societal phenomenon. Individuals
react to social frustrations, social tensions by sending back speeches of violence and hate. According to the expert, one of the causes of the increase in hate speech on social networks is the poor appropriation of the media, since many young Cameroonians do not know how to communicate
when on social media. It is therefore possible that unintentional
hate speech is not only produced online, but also spread unintentionally. These scenes of horrific violence are like “entertainment,
reality TV” for these young people. “Lynching has become commonplace”, worries Rachid Santaki, for whom the trivialisation of this violence has already begun.
Psychological impacts
And as Michael Stora confirms, “there is a fascination for violence
and ultimately almost a cathartic effect for some during adolescence”, so the “like, share and comment” goes without saying when a teenager scrolls through his Twitter or Instagram
feed and comes across this kind of content. Alongside this habit of viewing violent scenes, also trivialised by television and social networks. It is “almost a kind of initiation rite” according
to Michael Stora’s analysis. Caught in the stranglehold of social networks, it is increasingly complicated for young people to escape from this “never-ending vicious circle”. The psychological
impact of online violence is very real for victims. Victims of online hate speech feel fear and anger because they feel that not enough is being done to protect them. They may experience
stress, a significant loss of self-esteem and psychological
distress. Victims of internet violence can suffer significant consequences from hate messages
or threats, and various remedies can be taken against those who make such statements.
Professor François Courcy of the psychology department at the University of Sherbrooke explains that so-called trolls vent their frustration on social
networks. When they are in groups and their identity is hidden, their level of maturity drops considerably. “Victims of online hate speech feel fear and anger because they feel that not enough is being done to protect
them. They may experience stress, a significant decrease in self-esteem and psychological distress ». In November 2019, the Cameroonian penal code was amended. Anyone guilty of tribalist hate speech is liable to one to two years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to three million CFA francs.