‘Online abuse cannot be normalised,’ says Zoya Akhtar

Image Source : TWITTER/@APKI1PASAND Zoya Akhtar
In a session collectively organised by the Population Foundation of India and Jaipur Literature Festival, director and producer Zoya Akhtar, in dialog with writer Mihir Sharma,mentioned the hazards of on-line abuse and bullying. The session titled, ‘Cyber Bullies: Anonymity and Accountability’, was streamed on YouTube and Facebook. The dialog between acclaimed director Zoya Akhtar and Mihir Sharma, a Senior Fellow on the Observer Research Foundation, underscored the hazards of cyberbullying.

Sharma is the writer of ‘Restart: The Last Chance for the Indian Economy’ and the co-editor of ‘What the Economy Needs Now’ whereas Zoya’s firm Tiger Baby Films has produced the superhit internet sequence ‘Made in Heaven’ in 2019.

Also, she has directed critically acclaimed movies corresponding to ‘Luck by Chance’, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ and ‘Gully Boy’. However, her success has not protected her from intense cyberbullying and trolling.

Zoya shared her experiences which have made her go away the social media platform Facebook fully. She mentioned that due to the acute ranges of trolling and abuse she has confronted, she is reluctant to signal into the destructive power on Twitter, and has needed to swap off the feedback on her Instagram account.

Zoya has been repeatedly focused and attacked for her Muslim identification, gender, and appears by each women and men. Most devastating are feedback that threaten both bodily or sexual violence. She says, “Social media gives people anonymity while bullying and abusing just about anyone and there is no accountability. The fact that social media platforms enable the abusers of women by not identifying them or holding them accountable is a recipe for disaster because it is just a matter of time before the virtual abuse seeps into real spaces.”

Zoya additionally expressed concern over the truth that this sort of on-line abuse spares nobody, not even younger ladies for whom the psychological injury might show to be debilitating. This deterioration in on-line discourse, nonetheless, she says, is just not a current improvement however a pattern that has turn into more and more poisonous. She believes there’ll come a time when various platforms with extra stringent checks will emerge as a counterpoint, whereas the present platforms will both have to alter their moderation insurance policies or will stay saddled with solely bullies abusing one another.

Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director, Population Foundation of India, in her introduction to the session, added, “It is important to highlight abuse and the abusers who threaten and prevent women and the vulnerable amongst us from expressing themselves freely. We cannot afford to ignore online abuse simply because it is so prevalent. The consequences of online and offline abuse are equally dangerous and we must call out and push back against bullies and trolls. Online violence is simply another form of violence and can easily transform into offline abuse as well. Technology is a force of good and we cannot let it be vitiated and misused in this way.”