No Roles For Trolls: Useful resources to deal with trolling and online abuse
At the start of April, we launched our No Roles for Trolls campaign with the aim to highlight the too often underplayed issue of trolling and online abuse, with our interviewees highlighting how deeply it can affect someone's mental health.
From the previous weeks it emerged how important is to seek help as soon as possible and to educate people of all ages in the proper use of social media and online platforms.
To help you find guidance on this topic, below is a series of useful links, reads and other resources which can help you deal with the issue and learn more about it.
Organisations and charities
Glitch Uk
A charity aiming to tackle online abuse, particularly towards women. On their website you can find practical guides and toolkits to help you deal with online abuse and reporting it, as well as a variety of useful information on the topic.
Mikeysline
The charity provides mental health support across the Highlands and runs a text-based support, (via SMS, Facebook Messenger, Webchat and Twitter) and has a crisis and mental health support centre with appointments and drop-in available in Inverness city centre. Anyone dealing with online abuse and whose mental health has been affected can seek support with them.
Child Protection Scotland
In case the youngest ones are involved, Child Protection offers support and on their website you will be able to find useful contacts and information.
Respect Me
Aimed at tackling any form of bullying, the charity also offers support concerning online bullying and offers guidance on how to deal with the issue – with some useful tips on the use of social media.
Thinkuknow
Thinkuknow is an education programme delivered by Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command that aims to empower and protect children and young people from abuse and offering online safety education. The website is full of useful resources for young people, parents and professionals working with children.
True Vision
This is a specialist organisation offering support with online trolling, hate and abuse. They offer a very useful list of support agencies dealing with specific cases of abuse.
Report Harmful Content
A great resource to guide you on how to report harmful content and online abuse of various kinds.
Further Reading
Don't Feed the Trolls
This is a report by the Centre for Countering Digital Hate and constitutes a practical guide to dealing with online trolls. Drawing on leading-edge research, it explores the psychology of trolling and the best way to deal with trolls.
Crown Prosecution Service
This page provides guidelines on the prosecution of cases involving communications sent via social media.
The Prevalence and Impact of Online Trolling
This is a report by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport which explores the phenomenon of trolling in depth.
Legislation on freedom of expression
Here you can find Part one and two of Article 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998.
Equality and Human Rights Commission:
A guide on how freedom of expression is protected by law.
More stories from our campaign:
WATCH: Public figures speak out on their experience of online harassment
WATCH: Highland MSP candidates on online abuse faced by women in politics
WATCH: No Roles for Trolls: Emily Stokes from Mikeysline on the impact of trolling on mental health
