Report on Cyberbullying: Ethical Issues, Societal Impact Analysis

This report delves into the ethical issues surrounding cyberbullying, particularly concerning the sharing of information on social media platforms. It identifies key ethical concerns such as the violation of privacy, potential data loss, and the misuse of freedom of speech to incite harmful sentiments. The analysis explores the impact of these issues on both businesses and individuals, highlighting the importance of data privacy and the potential consequences of security breaches. The report evaluates these concerns, emphasizing the need for responsible social media usage and data protection measures to mitigate the adverse effects of cyberbullying on society and business operations. Desklib offers a wealth of similar solved assignments and past papers for students.

Running head: CYBER BULLYING
CYBER BULLYING
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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................2
Discussion......................................................................................................................2
Identification..............................................................................................................2
Analysis......................................................................................................................3
Evaluation and justification........................................................................................4
Conclusion......................................................................................................................4
References......................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
This report aims to discuss the topic Cyberbullying and the effect of this threat on the
common people. The case is introduced briefly and then the ethical issues are briefly
discussed in this report. A discussion of the two important ethical issues is provided in this
report. An analysis of the identified issues in the terms of the impact on the society and the
business is detailed in this report. An evaluation of the issues and a justification is provided in
this report. Lastly, this report concludes with an appropriate conclusion for this report.
The ethical issue that is discussed in this report is the threat of cyberbullying. This
threat arises due to the sharing of information on the social media platforms. It can cause in
distress the common people and valuable information might get stolen or modified (Agatston,
Kowalski & Limber, 2007). The ethical issues of sharing information can be invasion of
privacy, loss of data, and harassing through the internet.
Discussion
Identification
The ethical issues that are identified from sharing excess information on the social
media platforms are:
Can the user of the social media expect to be observed by any stranger?
This is the ethical issue that leads to the violation of privacy and loss of data of the
users. The identity thieves collect personal information from the sites of social media. Even
though the account of user is at the security setting at the highest level, still there are methods
by which any identity thief can obtain the information (Campbell, 2005). Majority of the
social network sites consists of the information that is required like the email address or the
date of birth. It is common for any identity thief to hack the email account of any user with

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the help of the social information. The hackers like the sites of social networking as it can act
as the effective method of injecting the malicious codes in the system of any user.
The second ethical issue that is raised from the use of social media platforms is the
right of freedom of speech (DeHue, Bolman & Völlink, 2008). The aspect of freedom of
speech is another valid pathway of the politics is recognised as the human right where each
individual has the right to freedom of expression and opinion. Even though, the free speech
has been always observed as the unobtrusive for several people and they have supported in
the ideology that is democratic, it can be a harmful weapon to some particular group of
individuals for manipulating the right to release or the spark any unethical sentiment like the
religious or the racial in the digital space using the social media (Erdur-Baker, 2010). There
are several instances where it has been observed that the free thoughts of the people that are
posted on the social media platform creates a situation of distress for some religious caste or
creed and lead to extreme violent situations.
Analysis
The aspect of privacy matters to the customers of any business. The consumers have
grown to the more connected and they are regularly sharing the online information. The
consumers are purchasing, researching and utilising the online services and products with
numerous connected devices (Mishna, Saini & Solomon, 2009). They are also choosing to
share the information and the preferences as a major part of the interactions on the social
media and the search sites. All the customer data is constantly being collected by the
manufacturers of device, mobile and desktop apps, the providers of internet and the mobile
operators for fulfilling the purposes of the consumers or even to sell to any other business.
The prospect of privacy is important for the brand of the business. Majority of the businesses
are linked with the business partners in the highly interdependent commerce of the world.
The businesses may be utilising the hosted web store, a distinct provider of email marketing

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and a dissimilar hosting operation of website. The similar thing is applicable for the business
partners like the affiliate marketing and the associations (Vandebosch & Van Cleemput,
2008). When the businesses receive or offer the referrals, the information is going and
coming and they are potentially exposed and treated indistinctly by each entity.
The issue of privacy can affect the common people in a society and due to the lack of
privacy from the internet the individual can experience severe consequences due to breach in
the security of data (Wang, Nansel & Iannotti, 2011). If in any case significant amount of
data is leaked by breaching the privacy of the common people in a society, not all the
individuals can spend the money for restoring the data.
Evaluation and justification
From the above mentioned points, it is clearly observed that the excess sharing of the
information of any individual on the platforms of social media can lead to the breach in the
privacy of the individuals and it can also create the leakage of data. If any business is effected
by the privacy breaches, huge amount of data is lost by the company and the business can be
affected severely due to the loss of data (Wang, Iannotti & Nansel, 2009). The common
people in a society can be severely affected by the data leakage using the platform of social
media. The aspect of cyber bullying can create the situations of forced release of data on the
social media platforms and it can be harmful for the common people and the businesses.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that several ethical issues rise due to the excess sharing
of information on the platforms of social media. This threat arises due to the sharing of
information on the social media platforms. It can cause in distress the common people and
valuable information might get stolen or modified. The aspect of privacy matters to the
customers of any business. The consumers have grown to the more connected and they are

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regularly sharing the online information. The consumers are purchasing, researching and
utilising the online services and products with numerous connected devices. The issue of
privacy can affect the common people in a society and due to the lack of privacy from the
internet the individual can experience severe consequences due to breach in the security of
data.

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References
Agatston, P. W., Kowalski, R., & Limber, S. (2007). Students’ perspectives on cyber
bullying. Journal of Adolescent Health, 41(6), S59-S60.
Campbell, M. A. (2005). Cyber bullying: An old problem in a new guise?. Journal of
Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools, 15(1), 68-76.
DeHue, F., Bolman, C., & Völlink, T. (2008). Cyberbullying: Youngsters' experiences and
parental perception. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 11(2), 217-223.
Erdur-Baker, Ö. (2010). Cyberbullying and its correlation to traditional bullying, gender and
frequent and risky usage of internet-mediated communication tools. New media &
society, 12(1), 109-125.
Mishna, F., Saini, M., & Solomon, S. (2009). Ongoing and online: Children and youth's
perceptions of cyber bullying. Children and Youth Services Review, 31(12), 1222-
1228.
Vandebosch, H., & Van Cleemput, K. (2008). Defining cyberbullying: A qualitative research
into the perceptions of youngsters. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 11(4), 499-503.
Wang, J., Iannotti, R. J., & Nansel, T. R. (2009). School bullying among adolescents in the
United States: Physical, verbal, relational, and cyber. Journal of Adolescent
health, 45(4), 368-375.
Wang, J., Nansel, T. R., & Iannotti, R. J. (2011). Cyber and traditional bullying: Differential
association with depression. Journal of adolescent health, 48(4), 415-417.

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