Recently, the UK communications regulator, Ofcom published shocking statistics of the scale of daily online abuse levelled at that country's Premier League footballers. Seven in ten football players from the English Premier League were directly affected by online abuse on Twitter during the first half of last season – just twelve players receiving half of all abuse, with each receiving an average of 15 abusive tweets a day. Ofcom's new machine-learning technology automatically assessed that 60,000 abusive tweets were sent during that period.
"These findings shed light on a dark side to the beautiful game. Online abuse has no place in sport, nor in wider society, and tackling it requires a team effort," said Kevin Bakhurst, Ofcom's Group Director for Broadcasting and Online Content. "Social media firms needn't wait for new laws to make their sites and apps safer for users."
No figures are available for the scale of abuse that South African celebrities and sport personalities receive but the Ofcom report provides a clue to a likely scenario worldwide. It is important that the public be aware of the consequences that abusive social media posts can have on a personal – and professional level.
In South Africa, posting abusive tweets or posts may result in a person being criminally charged with crimen injuria and, if found guilty they be forced to pay a fine or even be imprisoned. A civil claim for defamation can also be instituted against a person posting abusive messages by the victim, where courts are likely to consider civil damages as a penalty for posting such defamatory remarks.
From a workplace perspective, a person sending abusive online messages could possibly find themselves in breach of their employer's social media policy which may then result in disciplinary steps being taken. Therefore, it is evident that posting abusive social media messages can have severe and extensive consequences and people should think twice before posting a message on social media.
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