Live streaming crime: Have we lost our moral compass?
The rape of a young girl livestreamed on Facebook last month had over 40 viewers, not one of whom called the police. Bystander intervention is a work in progress in America. Well, mostly work, with little progress.
Unfortunately, this is not a unique case. In January, four people were charged with a hate crime for beating a mentally disabled man and livestreaming the event on Facebook. Adding to the collection, another case involving the rape of a 17-year-old was livestreamed last year. Facebook livestream is becoming a television program for criminal acts, attracting quite the crowd, while exposing a serious problem in our society. Do we have a moral obligation as a society to act when we see another being harmed?
The problem of online bystander effect has become very noticeable given the advent of livestreaming through social media channels. A whopping 81% of internet crimes occur through social media networking (Malone 2017). Although social media has revolutionized how we see and interact with the world, this very same technology has brought new dangers to the forefront.
Advancements in technology have magnified the issue of bystander effect in our country. People are more likely to ignore the crime if they are watching it behind the comfort of a computer screen than when they are faced with the crime in person. Perhaps we need the prompting of those around us or the idea that someone is watching to make us feel more accountable.
There are many explanations as to why this is the case. For instance, there is the false assumption that if more people are watching, one of them is bound to report it. If everyone has this mindset, who is calling the police? The shirking of responsibility manifests itself in other reasoning as well. People believe since they are not physically in the presence of a crime, there is no way they can help the situation. Are these beliefs valid or do people just not want to get involved because they don’t see the direct effect on their lives nor will they be held accountable? Anonymity is one of the most appealing aspects of being online. If no one “knows” you are watching the video then you do not feel the need to act nor prove you are a good person.
What does this say about our society and its norms? People post videos of crimes and get tens, hundreds, even thousands of views. This reveals that far too many people can sit behind a screen and watch a crime occur without feeling obligated to report it. It is as if our society has become adapted to criminal acts and has shrugged off the responsibility we owe to each other to act. Violence has become ingrained in our culture- in movies, television, news, videogames. It is now one of the greatest forms of entertainment and we are allowing it to become a normal part of our society. Is it possible that we are teaching our children that it is acceptable to not only view it, but also to engage in it?
The issue of who is to blame is often times a tricky one. A multitude of factors make these online criminal cases extremely complicated. People are quick to say Facebook and other social media sites need to change and offer better solutions. What about our responsibility as a society? Far too often we shift all of the blame to companies like Facebook, instead of seeing our part in the issue.
On Facebook’s website it says “we rely on people like you. If you see something on Facebook that you believe violates our terms, please report it to us.” The reality is it would be an insurmountable task for anyone to sift through millions of videos looking for ones that are inappropriate. We have to reshape our society’s views on our responsibility to intervene in situations of violence. The most logical place to start is with our younger generation. An increasing number of young teens are using social media. Almost 40% of Facebook users are under the age of 14 (Malone 2017). Not only are they quickly becoming the highest utilizers of social media, but they are most likely to be a victim or involved in one of these heinous crimes.
When children are young, they are highly influenced by those around them. We have not done an adequate job of showing the next generation that they have a moral obligation to act. In the case of the 15 year old girl, the perpetrators were of the same age. Boys of 14 and 15 years of age raped a girl and livestreamed the crime, with no apparent regard as to the consequences of their actions. As a society, what have we done to entitle these young people to believe they can get away with violent crimes? One of the most important avenues to educate our children will be in school. Perhaps teachers should spend just as much time showing these children how to be socially responsible members of our society as they do on math and science. Our children need to have a sense of confidence so that they are able to intervene in situations of violence. By teaching our younger generations to act, we will be creating a better society for generations to come.
Works Cited
Schaper, D. (2017, April 04). Should Viewers Of Facebook Live Gang Rape Face Charges? Retrieved April 7, 2017, from http://www.npr.org/2017/04/04/522574666/should-viewers-of-facebook-live-gang-rape-face-charges
Ali, S. S. (2017, March 23). Who's responsible for stopping live-streamed crimes? Retrieved April 7, 2017, from http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/who-responsible-stopping-live-streamed-crimes-n737346
Malone, K. (2017, April 05). Live streaming crime: How do we police the internet? Retrieved April 6, 2017, from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/live-streamed-crime-1.4055977
Polder-Verkiel, S. E. (2012). Online Responsibility: Bad Samaritanism and the Influence of Internet Mediation. Science and Engineering Ethics, 18(1), 117–141. http://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-010-9253-z