Mum turns troll-hunter and forces 500 cyberbullies off the internet
Crusade: Kaitlin
A mum of five, disgusted by the vile abuse of her children online, has turned troll-hunter and closed down more than 500 accounts of cyber bullies.
Kaitlin Jackson is so determined to end the terrible internet scourge – which has led to victims taking their own lives – that she has already devoted over 6,000 hours to her crusade.
She launched into action after her children were subjected to taunts like those made by bullies on Ask.fm, which led to teenager Hannah Smith killing herself earlier this month.
Hannah, 14, from Lutterworth, Leicestershire, hanged herself after being relentlessly targeted on the Latvia-based website. Her father David has called on Prime Minister David Cameron to step in and force social networking sites to introduce stricter controls.
And Kaitlin, 45 – who says she has often been “physically sick” at some of the abuse she has witnessed – accuses social sites like Twitter and Facebook of failing to tackle the new plague of the web.
She tells how three years ago she herself joined a support group on Facebook called Angel Mums after suffering the trauma of a miscarriage. But soon after joining, she says the group was overrun with tormenters who bombarded the women with horrifying messages of abuse, posting pictures of aborted foetuses and making jokes about dead children.
Horrified to discover such behaviour even existed, she checked the Facebook and Twitter accounts used by her children, and was appalled to find several examples of them being targeted by bullies.
“The comments my daughter had sent to her were horrendous,” she says. “I messaged these anonymous people myself and told them I had printed every message and had taken them to the police. They stopped. But there are children out there who have nowhere to turn to.”
Now Kaitlin spends up to eight hours a day rooting out the identities of those responsible for placing the contemptible messages on tribute pages and websites used by charity groups.
If she finds out a troll’s name, their Facebook profile page or their website address she emails the details straight to the people responsible for policing the sites where the abuse appears. She also emails the trolls directly, warning them she is handing their messages to police.
Kaitlin is a member of Stop cyber-bullying and Trolls, a group of like-minded parents uniting against online thugs. Members share links to profiles and pages that are being targeted by bullies. They include fan pages for celebrities, tribute pages to the deceased or support groups for people suffering from physical or mental health problems.
Kaitlin’s tactics involve bombarding the bullies with messages, asking them to explain their actions.
Among the trolls she has tackled have been those who created Facebook pages celebrating the murder of five-year-old April Jones at Machynlleth, Wales, in October 2012.
She also took action over pages containing vile comments about murdered soldier Lee Rigby and the 2011 Welsh mining disaster, as well as postings which targeted actress Amanda Holden and singer Gary Barlow after they lost babies.
“Social networks are out of control,” Kaitlin says. “Their inventors have given birth to a monster that is ruining lives.”
Kaitlin, from Aberystwyth, West Wales, adds: “I report about 40 trolls or trolling sites to Facebook a night. If I see the same people or sites still up days later, I’ll report them to the police’s hate crime unit.”
Kaitlin uses Facebook as her main tool in hunting out trolls. Where she sees a sickening comment, she goes through the laborious task of reporting each one through the site’s complaints procedure.
She selects the abusive message, categorises it, explains why she is reporting it and what should be done. It takes a minute to process each one.
She then collates evidence and information which she regularly approaches police with. So far she has stopped 500 trolls. She said: “As of yet I don’t know of any arrests, but so long as the police have the necessary information then I know they will do what the can. It’s very frustrating because the police often say they can’t take action on internet bullying because the sites these messages are posted on are foreign.
“No one is willing to be responsible for policing these sites. Someone needs to find these trolls who are abusing people anonymously and lock them up.
“I’m providing the police and the sites with as much evidence as I can but the problem is getting worse and worse. There has to be a harsh penalty. When people are taking their own lives because of abuse, it’s manslaughter.”
Kaitlin, a contract cleaner, has a busy life running around after her sons, Shelton, 14, Jordan, 13, and Joshua, 10. She also has two daughters, Ashlii, 22, and Summer, 20, and even finds time to look after her two grandchildren.
Shelton says of his mum’s crusade: “I see my mum very upset at times. I know she must have found a particularly bad online bully. My sister was targeted and my mum put a stop to it.
“My mum’s support always makes me feel safe. I don’t mind that she checks my Facebook. If anyone was to send me horrible messages then I know I would have my mum supporting me.” Kaitlin reveals: “There was a period when I first began troll hunting that I became so distraught at everything I’d seen that I had to take a week away for stress. There were a number of occasions when I was physically sick. When I was a kid the only thing I had to worry about was getting a bit of stick in the playground. These days children are set upon by thugs across the internet.
“My heart goes out to the family of Hannah Smith. Her death cannot be in vain, and the owners of these websites must stand up and make a difference.”
8.10pm: She scrolls through hundreds of vile posts and vandalised tribute pictures.
8.15pm: She reports abuse through the site’s complaints procedure.
9.10pm: Troll hunters join forces and spam abusers with their anti-bullying campaign. They name and shame trolls online – posting to their friends and family.
10.30pm: Kaitlin recalls helping the family of an 11-year-old Australian boy whose memorial page was targeted after he died from cancer. Trolls posted graphic images of dead children, thanked “cancer” for taking his life and labelled his parents “attention-seeking monsters who used their child for sympathy”. Kaitlin tracked down each abuser and reported them to police. The page was removed within an hour.
11.15pm: A boy of 13 is bullied after posting a picture of his seriously ill gran on a “Get well soon” page.
11.45pm: Kaitlin sends a message to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg asking: “How many more lives will we have to mourn before you take this seriously?” She has contacted him before but has never received a reply.
00.50am: She weeps as she reports a page named “The recipe how to cook babies”, which has pictures of dead children and foetuses.
1:30am: Kaitlin checks progress made this evening. Eighty-six positive results, which can range from a single person being banned to an entire network of troll accounts being suspended.
1:45am: She checks to see if Zuckerberg has responded... no.
2:00am: She logs off, knowing that for every troll she takes down, hundreds more are going unpunished.
Kaitlin Jackson is so determined to end the terrible internet scourge – which has led to victims taking their own lives – that she has already devoted over 6,000 hours to her crusade.
She launched into action after her children were subjected to taunts like those made by bullies on Ask.fm, which led to teenager Hannah Smith killing herself earlier this month.
Hannah, 14, from Lutterworth, Leicestershire, hanged herself after being relentlessly targeted on the Latvia-based website. Her father David has called on Prime Minister David Cameron to step in and force social networking sites to introduce stricter controls.
And Kaitlin, 45 – who says she has often been “physically sick” at some of the abuse she has witnessed – accuses social sites like Twitter and Facebook of failing to tackle the new plague of the web.
She tells how three years ago she herself joined a support group on Facebook called Angel Mums after suffering the trauma of a miscarriage. But soon after joining, she says the group was overrun with tormenters who bombarded the women with horrifying messages of abuse, posting pictures of aborted foetuses and making jokes about dead children.
Horrified to discover such behaviour even existed, she checked the Facebook and Twitter accounts used by her children, and was appalled to find several examples of them being targeted by bullies.
“The comments my daughter had sent to her were horrendous,” she says. “I messaged these anonymous people myself and told them I had printed every message and had taken them to the police. They stopped. But there are children out there who have nowhere to turn to.”
Now Kaitlin spends up to eight hours a day rooting out the identities of those responsible for placing the contemptible messages on tribute pages and websites used by charity groups.
If she finds out a troll’s name, their Facebook profile page or their website address she emails the details straight to the people responsible for policing the sites where the abuse appears. She also emails the trolls directly, warning them she is handing their messages to police.
Kaitlin is a member of Stop cyber-bullying and Trolls, a group of like-minded parents uniting against online thugs. Members share links to profiles and pages that are being targeted by bullies. They include fan pages for celebrities, tribute pages to the deceased or support groups for people suffering from physical or mental health problems.
Kaitlin’s tactics involve bombarding the bullies with messages, asking them to explain their actions.
Among the trolls she has tackled have been those who created Facebook pages celebrating the murder of five-year-old April Jones at Machynlleth, Wales, in October 2012.
She also took action over pages containing vile comments about murdered soldier Lee Rigby and the 2011 Welsh mining disaster, as well as postings which targeted actress Amanda Holden and singer Gary Barlow after they lost babies.
“Social networks are out of control,” Kaitlin says. “Their inventors have given birth to a monster that is ruining lives.”
Kaitlin, from Aberystwyth, West Wales, adds: “I report about 40 trolls or trolling sites to Facebook a night. If I see the same people or sites still up days later, I’ll report them to the police’s hate crime unit.”
Kaitlin uses Facebook as her main tool in hunting out trolls. Where she sees a sickening comment, she goes through the laborious task of reporting each one through the site’s complaints procedure.
She selects the abusive message, categorises it, explains why she is reporting it and what should be done. It takes a minute to process each one.
She then collates evidence and information which she regularly approaches police with. So far she has stopped 500 trolls. She said: “As of yet I don’t know of any arrests, but so long as the police have the necessary information then I know they will do what the can. It’s very frustrating because the police often say they can’t take action on internet bullying because the sites these messages are posted on are foreign.
“No one is willing to be responsible for policing these sites. Someone needs to find these trolls who are abusing people anonymously and lock them up.
“I’m providing the police and the sites with as much evidence as I can but the problem is getting worse and worse. There has to be a harsh penalty. When people are taking their own lives because of abuse, it’s manslaughter.”
Kaitlin, a contract cleaner, has a busy life running around after her sons, Shelton, 14, Jordan, 13, and Joshua, 10. She also has two daughters, Ashlii, 22, and Summer, 20, and even finds time to look after her two grandchildren.
Shelton says of his mum’s crusade: “I see my mum very upset at times. I know she must have found a particularly bad online bully. My sister was targeted and my mum put a stop to it.
“My mum’s support always makes me feel safe. I don’t mind that she checks my Facebook. If anyone was to send me horrible messages then I know I would have my mum supporting me.” Kaitlin reveals: “There was a period when I first began troll hunting that I became so distraught at everything I’d seen that I had to take a week away for stress. There were a number of occasions when I was physically sick. When I was a kid the only thing I had to worry about was getting a bit of stick in the playground. These days children are set upon by thugs across the internet.
“My heart goes out to the family of Hannah Smith. Her death cannot be in vain, and the owners of these websites must stand up and make a difference.”
Kaitlin's typical nightly mission
8pm: Kaitlin logs on to Facebook and joins anti-trolling groups to share links to cyber bullies.8.10pm: She scrolls through hundreds of vile posts and vandalised tribute pictures.
8.15pm: She reports abuse through the site’s complaints procedure.
9.10pm: Troll hunters join forces and spam abusers with their anti-bullying campaign. They name and shame trolls online – posting to their friends and family.
10.30pm: Kaitlin recalls helping the family of an 11-year-old Australian boy whose memorial page was targeted after he died from cancer. Trolls posted graphic images of dead children, thanked “cancer” for taking his life and labelled his parents “attention-seeking monsters who used their child for sympathy”. Kaitlin tracked down each abuser and reported them to police. The page was removed within an hour.
11.15pm: A boy of 13 is bullied after posting a picture of his seriously ill gran on a “Get well soon” page.
11.45pm: Kaitlin sends a message to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg asking: “How many more lives will we have to mourn before you take this seriously?” She has contacted him before but has never received a reply.
00.50am: She weeps as she reports a page named “The recipe how to cook babies”, which has pictures of dead children and foetuses.
1:30am: Kaitlin checks progress made this evening. Eighty-six positive results, which can range from a single person being banned to an entire network of troll accounts being suspended.
1:45am: She checks to see if Zuckerberg has responded... no.
2:00am: She logs off, knowing that for every troll she takes down, hundreds more are going unpunished.
No comments:
Post a Comment