I am a victim of Cyber Stalking. I was stalked for two years by a female who mostly used fake social media accounts to terrorise me, my family, and my friends.  During this time I was continually told by Police Scotland that they had no jurisdiction over social media and therefore could not do anything to stop my perpetrator which caused me great stress and feelings of helplessness and I even attempted to take my own life. I eventually caught my stalker following me on my dash camera and she was charged. Even though my stalker followed me etc, I suffered the worst from the Cyber Stalking as she would make fake profiles up to slander me and contact my friends and family to do the same. I lived through this for 2 years and throughout this, my mental health, finances, work life and relationships with family and friends were greatly affected. I also suffer from PTSD.

Recently I have been made aware of 20+ victims of my stalker who have been stalked in the same way by her and have failed to get support or any justice for themselves due to the nature of the stalking which has made me passionate about making a change to stop this from happening to others in the future.

Unfortunately, whilst studying Cyber Bully/Stalking I have come to realise that anyone can be affected by this and that's why I am starting this petition to try and make a change to make it a legal requirement to provide identification to set up a social media profile.

 

Cyber Stalking

Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviours are interrelated to Harassment and Intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring them.

Cyberstalking is generally considered to be harassment that originates online, and can include social networking sites, chat rooms, forums or other means facilitated by technology. It is also recognised that other forms of pre-existing stalking can transfer into online environments.

Cyberstalking can be particularly challenging to address as it’s not always immediately obvious. Even though blocking someone on social media is a useful tool it is difficult to prevent a determined perpetrator from creating fake accounts to keep watch on you and attempt contact. Some victims reported receiving multiple new password requests a day where their stalker was attempting to hack into their account.

According to a survey in the United Kingdom, in 2022 52% of respondents reported being a victim of Cyber Bullying, while a further 33% reported being Cyber Stalked. These types of stalking are affecting people from all age ranges from children to older adults.  Studies show in 2018/20 One in eight adults have experienced at least one type of stalking and harassment whilst 70% received unwanted messages by email/ messenger or social media.

11.8% of adults in Scotland have reported at least one type of stalking and harassment in which 70% have been sent unwanted messages by text, email, messenger or posts on social media sites.

1 in 10 people report the stalking incident to the police- many victims don’t report the crime for fear of retaliation or not being believed.

Experiences of at least one type of stalking are higher in ages 16-24 (20.9% higher than any other age group). 

 

Cyber Bullying

Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place over digital devices like cell phones, computers, and tablets. Cyberbullying can occur through SMS, Text, and apps, or online in social media, forums, or gaming where people can view, participate in, or share content. Cyberbullying includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else. It can include sharing personal or private information about someone else causing embarrassment or humiliation. Some cyberbullying crosses the line into unlawful or criminal behaviour.

17% of parents in the UK report their child being cyberbullied, but only when parents are aware of the same.

Young adults who are experiencing Cyber Bullying are twice as likely to self-harm and execute suicidal behaviours.

Older children in the UK are more likely to be bullied on a screen than in person, Ofcom has found.

Their latest study into children’s media and online habits shows that four in 10 children aged 8-17 (39%) have experienced online bullying. Among these children, the bullying was more likely to happen on a device (84%) than face-to-face (61%).

The most common way for children to be bullied via technology was through text or messaging apps (56%), followed by social media (43%) or online games (30%).

 

As Cyber Bullying/ Stalking rates are increasing, so are the rates of self-harm and suicide linked to this.  I have found it difficult to collate research on statistics linking Cyber Bullying/Stalking to self-harm and attempted suicide.

As a stepmother to two boys aged 5 and 10, I have experienced one of these children being victims of Cyber Bullying through social media sites from people they know and don’t know and possibly by fake accounts which have had impacts on their mental health.  Whereas we could support the child and contact the perpetrators' parents, we were powerless to act on the fake profile who were sending hateful messages, which was a difficult experience for us.

The media continually reports children/ teenager’s self-harming and taking their own lives due to online bullying but is there enough done to combat this?

A survey of 128 stalking victims found that the actions of the stalker had an impact on all aspects of their lives, from mental health and physical health to employment and social life.

Victims reported suicide attempts, anxiety, depression, a loss of confidence and feelings of isolation, while some were forced to change jobs or even move home as a result of being targeted.

 

If things do not change people will continue to suffer at the hands of Cyber Bullies/Stalkers. Children and teenagers will continue to self-harm and ultimately take their own lives if nothing is done to make social media sites safer and prevent people from making fake accounts to terrorise their victims knowing they will not face prosecution.

I am starting this petition to make a change as I am aware the person who did this to me is still using social media to terrorise other people and is still getting away with it and hasn’t been prosecuted for this type of stalking. On the numerous times I reported the cyberstalking to the police I was continually advised that police could do nothing about these accounts and that I was to ignore them in the hope that my perpetrator would stop and move on to someone else which was not the case.

I personally was suicidal due to this type of stalking and attempted to take my own life. I feel that the government should be doing more to protect people from Cyber Stalking/Bullying by making it mandatory for people to provide identification in order to set up social media accounts to prevent people like myself being tortured and tormented by fake accounts.