The mere term “stalking” usually sends a chill down the spine. While in-person stalking might be scary, cyberstalking via social media takes on a whole new problematic level. The internet has given people a far too relaxed attitude regarding sharing personal information and this opens the doors for those that want to control and/or make others fearful. While social media may be a platform for talking with friends or family, without boundaries it can create an environment of anxiety and abuse.
Those that stalk using social media can be either young or older, but it is younger people that seem to fall prey to more cyberstalking. Young people have a more trusting attitude when it comes to social media, often sharing their very most intimate information. Some of the more common tactics of stalking on social media is using a fake profile to learn personal info, pretend to be a victim, theft of explicit materials or data, and post malicious threats or comments. Teens are viewed as easy victims as they are less experienced in how to deal with the perpetrators and lack the knowledge to recognise that they are being stalked.
Whether an adult or teen, there are some red flag alerts that you should be aware of to protect yourself and those you care about against stalking on social media:
The stalker is aware of personal details about you or your family that you didn’t share with them. Information is easily accessed today on the net and if a stalker is examining all of your social media platforms, they can put together data that tracks who you are. Make your social media profiles private and be wary about accepting any friend requests as well as what you post.
You are being asked to share your locations and plans about where you are going or track you without your permission. Don’t post names, addresses, phone numbers or specific plans online. Use “private messaging” (PM) if you want to communication with friends or use text messages to their phones directly. Don’t make yourself an easy target for a stalker. Some of the social media platforms such as Snapchat can find the location of a person they are tracking through the use of Snap Map, others share the movements of someone they are following everywhere they go.
Overly excessive micromanaging of your day to day activities on social media. This is a tactic used to control another individual. The stalker may ask you to unlock your phone, share passwords, or try to dominate your “world” by inserting themselves into it under the auspices of sounding like they “care.” In this kind of control it doesn’t take long for someone to begin to feel trapped, as though they don’t have control over their own lives.
A social media stalker may try to use the ploy of threatening to share your private details, personal information or even sexual content online. This is the level where a stalker now becomes abusive and is attempting to blackmail you if you don’t do as they wish.
“Social media stalking has increased almost exponentially over the last few years. DaVinci Cybersecurity maintains the most up to date expertise on best practices to avoid becoming a victim of cyberstalking for our clients, their staff and families. We are the experts on keeping people safe.”
– Sharon Knowles, CEO DaVinci Cybersecurity
Source:
https://us.norton.com/blog/how-to/what-is-cyberstalking
https://www.stjohns.edu/news-media/johnnies-blog/cyberstalking-protect-online-identity
socialmediavictims.org/what-is-cyberstalking/