BREAKING NEWS » Tom Daley Twitter abuse

[GommeInc]

Total and utter freedom of speech can infringe on other peoples' freedoms, and that's where it needs policing. Saying "I don't like your face" isn't nice and might make someone unhappy but it isn't causing any damage other than that, whereas telling someone you're going to hunt them down and kill them is inciting real fear and quite understandably should not be allowed as you are causing someone else actual difficulty. If you don't make that distinction then all you're left with is a primitive and unstable tyranny of the strongest where the most physically built-up people can do as they please because no-one can do anything about them

But what if the person in question doesn't feel fear or the comments made are baseless in terms of the likelihood of them actually hunting them down? I don't remember seeing Tom Daley saying he was fearing for his life, which is a huge comparison to the silent individuals who are actually victims of cyber bullying who actually feel fear, yet nothing comes of it when you report the cyber bully. It sort of builds on the idea someone posted that when a person in the media spotlight is inadvertedly attacked the world suddenly becomes interested, even though the celebrity is just feeding the troll and not actually caring all that much, yet the reality of cyber bullying is far more painful for those who do not have thousands of followers.

It's probably why policing Twitter is such a controversial topic because it seems a huge waste of resources focused on celebrities who should know better than to feed the trolls, when the focus should be on people who actually commit suicide or give a cry for help but are never actually heard. Obviously if a celeb is harassed, then action should be taken, but Daley just seemed to of fed the troll and got his horde of followers to leap on them - he didn't seem all that emotionally bothered.

[FlyingJesus]

It's not about Tom Daley!

[GommeInc]

It's not about Tom Daley!

And the others of course It seems the law takes a proactive response to public figures but never people in general.

[dirrty]

And the others of course It seems the law takes a proactive response to public figures but never people in general.

that's nothing new though. obviously shouldn't be that way, but public figures have always been treated differently compared to the general public. we see all the time, how celebrities commit certain crimes, but get away with a fine, community service or a light sentencing; whereas if a 'normal' person committed the same crime, they'd be thrown in prison faster than they could sneeze.