BCP Social Sciences & Humanities ASSSD 2022 Volume 21 (2023) 197 Causes for Public Figures to Experience Cyber Violence and Prevention Measures Shuang Qu Malvern College Qingdao, Qingdao, Shangdong, China 2017cassie.qu@malverncollege.cn Abstract. Most of the performances of public figures are watched by the public, and people like to comment on these celebrities on the internet. However, a lot of critical remarks mean that cyber violence occurs. As a result, most public figures who experienced cyber violence suffered from depression. This paper aims to mitigate the negative effects of cyber violence. Through the study of the behavior of victims and abusers, the purpose of this paper is to find out the causes of cyber violence and analyze the effective methods to prevent cyber violence according to the causes. After the study, the causes of cyber violence include two aspects. One reason is that abusers are jealous of public figures whose lives and jobs seem so easy to succeed. Moreover, these abusers do not have a good way to release their stress, and they can only choose to attack others online to satisfy their needs. Another reason is that victims do not like to communicate with others like professional psychologists, and they are not confident at all. To prevent cyber violence, the country can enact laws to publish people who comment aggressively online and provide free psychological counseling for the public. For public figures who will experience cyber violence easily, they should go to counseling regularly and talk to others. If cyber violence is reduced, the whole network environment and even the social environment will be better. Keywords: Cyber Violence; Public Figures; Causes; Prevention Measures. 1. Introduction With the development of social platforms, more and more people experienced cyber violence. In particular, high-profile public figures are more likely to be attacked online. Their work and part of their lives are displayed on the internet, which has become a topic of conversation in people’s free time. According to the survey, 80 percent of the victims of cyber violence are public figures. For example, an actor abused his wife, and details of the abuse were immediately posted on the internet. At that time, people’s leisure time was all about this topic, and the Internet attacks on the actor never stopped. In fact, there is much domestic abuse going on in real life; it just goes unreported. The reason why the incident of domestic violence by an actor causes so much cyber violence is that as a public figure, his performance has always been monitored by the public. If he makes a little mistake, people will immediately catch on and blame him. It seems to be a good way for people to release their pressure by attacking him online. This actor is like a representative; he represents the image of all people who abuse their families. People do not know about other abusers in real life and can only express their anger at them. Because of the actor’s status as a public figure, wherever he goes, people know him and criticize him, and there is no quiet space for him. He will also get the punishment he deserves, and online abuse against him is one kind of punishment. However, as a result, many victims suffer from depression and even commit suicide. Some researchers have already published essays about cyber violence; these articles aimed to amplify the problem of abusers and try to find ways to prevent cyber violence. Some scholars focused on the analysis of the connotation and causes of cyber violence [1-5]. Moreover, some scholars studied the harm of cyber violence [6]. The rest of the researchers aimed to find effective ways to prevent cyber violence [7-13]. However, they ignored the problems of the victims themselves who have experienced cyber violence. Through the analysis of the abuser and victim’s behaviors, this paper aims to find the causes of cyber violence and prevention methods. The author will analyze this issue from five perspectives. The first one is to find out how many public figures suffer from depression because of cyber violence and then study the relationship between cyber violence and mental illness: whether cyber violence leads to an increased risk of BCP Social Sciences & Humanities ASSSD 2022 Volume 21 (2023) 198 mental illness. The second aspect is to investigate how long cyber violence lasts. According to previous essay researchers, cyber violence usually lasts for a period of time and will not be stopped by some simple factors. Effective measures to prevent cyber violence proposed in this paper may shorten the time of this problem. The next procedure is to find out why public figures experience cyber violence. This article will analyze both abusers and victims. There may be many reasons for this question, but they must have some common aspects. These similarities are key to finding ways to prevent cyber violence. The government or people can start from these aspects to solve the problem of cyber violence. Finally, this paper will focus on summarizing the influence of cyber violence on individuals and society. 2. The relationship between cyber violence and mental illness Public figures’ work and most of their lives are displayed on the internet, where they can be clearly seen by the public. They have little privacy of their own, and their behaviors are watched by the public every time. Some people like to amplify public figures’ special or faults and attack them on the internet. A long period of cyber violence has made these public figures suffer from depression. This situation is especially serious for actors or actresses. According to statistics, more than 100 actors and singers have suffered from depression because of cyber violence. For instance, a Hong Kong actor and singer called Leslie Cheung suffered from depression and chose to commit suicide by jumping off a building. Leslie Cheung was very popular in the 20th century. People of all ages knew about him, his songs were played on the street almost all the time, and everyone loved to watch his TV shows. However, because he was very close with his male friends, people thought he was a gay man, which was an unacceptable relationship for the public. Then people started to attack him on the internet. They said his behavior was disgusting and he should not live in this world. He experienced very serious and large cyber violence for a year. The criticism led to his depression. For as long as he has experienced cyber violence, he has been sick. In the end, he chose suicide in 2003 to end his suffering, and this cyber violence stopped. According to the survey, cyber violence usually lasts for more than one year and does not stop easily. Another example of cyber violence is a Korean female singer called Sulli. She was a member of a popular Korean band. Sulli was a person who pursued freedom and did not like to restrict herself. Moreover, she often did not wear underwear during live streaming. Because of this hobby, she was attacked online by others. This time the cyber violence lasted two years. After a long period of cyber violence, she suffered from depression. Everyone could see that she had lost much weight and had no energy at all. However, the cyber violence did not stop there. Sulli finally could not bear the suffering of cyber violence and depression, then chose suicide. According to the survey, for public figures, the main reason for their depression is cyber violence. It is already stressful for public figures to live under public scrutiny and with little privacy. Unfortunately, their mistakes or even hobbies will become the reason for people to attack them at any time. Public figures who are already under great pressure will become more vulnerable because of the cyber violence, and they will begin to doubt themselves and even hate the whole world. Eventually, the psychological defense collapsed, some of them suffering from depression, some of them suffering from manic-depressive psychosis. Based on these, the author can speculate that cyber violence increases the probability of public figures suffering from mental illness. Cyber violence makes them in a state of high mental tension for a long time; some small incidents can break them down and completely collapse, thus suffering from a variety of mental diseases. 3. The reasons why public figures experienced cyber violence Many researchers have talked about this question [1-5]. In their essays, they just analyzed the causes of abusers but ignored the causes of the victims themselves. However, if one side of the cause will not lead to cyber violence that serious. In this paper, the author will analyze both causes of abusers and victims. BCP Social Sciences & Humanities ASSSD 2022 Volume 21 (2023) 199 Firstly, abusers are the main cause of cyber violence. Some people think that the behavior of public figures is different from normal people, or they do not like this kind of behavior; then they will cyber bully these public figures. For example, Leslie Cheung experienced cyber violence because he was close to his male friend, but the public thought he was a gay man, which was not acceptable at that time. In the twentieth century, homosexuality was not understood and accepted by the general public. Although people did not know if Leslie Cheung was a real homosexual, they all thought that he was strange and even disgusting. After that, Leslie Cheung was abused by many people because of his confused sexual orientation, so he experienced a particularly massive cyber violence. He also suffered from depression for a year because of this cyber violence and eventually committed suicide. Another example is Kimi, who is a famous actor in China. He was also killed by cyber violence due to the public’s incomprehension. He was a good actor who liked pink things; this seems like a very common thing. However, they think pink is a color that women will like. In the eyes of the public, Kimi’s preference is abnormal. As a man, he should not like pink. Because of this, some people began to attack him with language on the internet. He also experienced cyber violence because he was different from others. Another reason for abusers is that the fast pace of life and work makes people feel stressed and tired; they do not have the time or opportunity to release their dissatisfaction. However, every time when public figures appear in front of the public, they are always glamorous and seem to have no worries at all. In the eyes of the general public, public figures are perfect. If a person is very excellent, he or she will be admired by others, of course, will also be envied by others. Some people think that their lives and the lives of public figures are unfair. So, these kinds of a person become abusers of cyber violence. They began using language online to attack public figures whose lives were smoother than theirs. Moreover, because people can use the internet with their nicknames, they cannot be responsible for their behaviors, and they will not be punished. It looks like a good way that attacks others to release our own pressure without any punishment. More and more people did like that. Thus, cyber violence happens. For example, a Chinese actor called Sean was cyber bullied because of this. He became particularly popular after appearing in an opera after he had more advertising endorsements and more directors wanted to work with him. His sudden success seemed so easy, and he seems to have put in much less effort than others. Obviously, this caused some envy. Some people began to criticize Sean’s acting skills and said he was not good-looking. Even his competitor participated in the cyber violence. They were like the public and kept saying something critical of him. Therefore, Sean experienced cyber violence just because he succeeded more easily and then attracted envy from others. Secondly, the victims’ own problems will not directly lead to cyber violence, but it affects the severity of that. If a public figure who is experiencing cyber violence does not like to communicate with others, he or she will be harmed deeper. When cyber violence happens, victims must have many complex feelings; they will feel jaded or world-weary. Moreover, if they refuse to talk to others, their negative feelings will not be released. The victims will close themselves off and suffer the malice of the public alone, questioning themselves again and again. As a result, they will become more sensitive and vulnerable and have no ability to resist cyber violence, then only to watch it grow larger and larger. A Chinese actress called Gulinazhaer Baihetiyaer is a typical example of this. She is not an easygoing person. During the time that she experienced the cyber violence, she did not communicate with anyone; she just stayed in her house and waited for this thing to stop quickly. However, cyber violence has not been alleviated. Oppositely, it became more serious. More and More people attacked her online, and Gulinazhaer Baihetiyaer looked thinner and thinner. She was suffering from insomnia and losing her hair and was eventually diagnosed with depression. Since then, she has had even less energy to fight against the cyber violence, which has continued these days. Also, public figures who are not confident will be hurt more deeply by cyber violence. They are more likely to have self-doubt than normal people. Criticism from others will make them care for a long time, and then they can not get out of negative emotions easily. Public figures who lack confidence can only see the cyber violence become more and more serious, but they have no courage to resist at all. BCP Social Sciences & Humanities ASSSD 2022 Volume 21 (2023) 200 4. The influence and prevention methods of the cyber violence This paper will divide the impact of cyber violence into two aspects. The first perspective is the influence on individuals. Of public figures who experienced cyber violence, most of them were forced to stop working, suffered from depression and even committed suicide. Take actors and actresses, for example; their work and life are all connected with the internet. However, their image has been badly damaged by a large number of derogatory comments, which has led to the merchants of some products they endorse dropping them from their contracts, and then actors or actresses would be forced to stop their work. This is the effect of cyber violence on the personal work of public figures. Moreover, in their lives, most of them will be hurt by aggressive language. For a long time, public figures who were cyberbullied would suffer from depression because of that. The second perspective is the impact of cyber violence on society. First of all, the whole internet environment will become chaotic. Because people use nicknames online, it is hard to find and punish them in real life. Moreover, this means that the network environment is not strictly controlled. Without strict control, the public can say whatever they want, which will make the whole network environment chaotic. Moreover, people get much information from the internet every day, and the chaotic Internet environment makes it impossible for them to distinguish whether the information is true or false. If people believe false information, real life will also be negatively affected. However, cyber violence does not have only negative effects. Small and not serious cyber violence allows people to improve themselves. Cyber violence is about critical language, and public figures can see their own shortcomings and improve themselves according to these comments so that they can become more excellent. The following points are about the prevention of cyber violence. There will be two aspects to illustrate this question. The first one is about the country. The central government of the country can enact laws, such as people must provide their real identity before making comments on the internet, and they will be fined if they make offensive comments. Moreover, the state can subsidize free psychological counseling for its citizens so that people will not attack others online anymore as they have no opportunity to release their dissatisfaction. Additionally, victims of cyber violence, like public figures, can also do something to prevent this. They can do psychological counseling regularly and tell others that they are sad or tired. A professional psychologist will give them helpful advice and comfort them so that they will not be stuck with negative comments. Moreover, when cyber violence happens, victims should fight against it bravely, such as they should actively clarifying untrue information. In the face of cyber violence, the stronger victims are, the weaker they will be. The more scared victims are, the worse it gets. So never run away from cyber violence. 5. Conclusion Cyber violence is not caused only by abusers but also by the victims themselves. Abusers are jealous of public figures who live and work so well, while their pressure and dissatisfaction do not have a good way to release. This leads them to release themselves by attacking others on the internet. However, public figures do not like to communicate with others and are not confident, which has also become an indirect cause of cyber violence. According to statistics, many public figures who experienced cyber violence suffer from depression and manic-depressive psychosis or other mental illness. Therefore, this paper thinks that cyber violence increases the probability of people who have mental illness. Furthermore, cyber violence also affects the network environment or even the whole society. Because the control of the internet is very loose, people can say what they want, which contributes to cyber violence and leads to the chaos of the Internet environment. At the same time, due to the occurrence of cyber violence, the language on the internet is so diverse that it is difficult for people to identify whether the information they need is true. If they believe false information, their real social life will also become chaotic. To avoid the occurrence of this phenomenon, this essay mentions some effective measures to prevent cyber violence. For the country, it can enact new laws to control network safety. For instance, if people say very aggressive words to others, they will be punished immediately. Moreover, before people comment, they have to provide their ID cards or BCP Social Sciences & Humanities ASSSD 2022 Volume 21 (2023) 201 passports. Moreover, victims, like public figures themselves, can have counseling regularly with professional psychologists and communicate with others actively. Only by solving the problems of both the victim and the abuser, can there be the opportunity to stop cyber violence. Cyber violence is like a war without weapons; people should be brave to face and fight against it. References [1] Wang Changwei. Analysis of the connotation, basic types and causes of cyber violence [J]. Daqing Social Sciences, 2017, (4): 4. [2] Chen Xiuli. Analysis of the connotation and causes of cyber violence [J]. Journal of Chengdu University (Natural Science Edition), 2007, (5): 3. [3] Lai Lijie. Analysis of cyber violence phenomenon [J]. Press Circles, 2007, 000(001): 129-129. [4] Zou Miaoling. The present situation, characteristics and causes of cyber violence [J]. Today’s Mass Media, 2008, (1): 2. [5] Cheung A. Study of Cyber-Violence and Internet Service Providers’ Liability: Lessons from China, A [J]. Pac. rim L. & Poly J, 2009, (2): 323-346. [6] Liu Yawen. News cyber violence violates the privacy of public figures [J]. Research on Transmission Competence, 2019, 3(34): 1. [7] Zhuang Detong. “How to control cyber violence” The Democracy and law Times, Journal of Law and Technology, 2022-07-06, 3. [8] Guan Mei. The causes and countermeasures of “Cyber violence” phenomenon [J]. Today’s Mass Media, 2009, (12): 2. [9] Liu Yan. Harm, cause and prevention of cyber violence [D]. Zhejiang Normal University, 2016. [10] Liu Hui, Honglian Chen. The causes and countermeasures of cyber violence [J]. Journal of Hotan Teachers College: Chinese Comprehensive Edition, 2007, 27(3): 2. [11] Nie Peiyao, Peiguang Lin, Zhizheng Zhou. The formation and countermeasures of cyber violence [J]. Shandong Social Sciences, 2011, (12): 3. [12] Zuo Y, Sun L Y. Research on Cyber Violence Prevention in the New Media Age [J]. Journal of Yancheng Teachers University (Humanities & Social Sciences Edition), 2019. [13] Wang B. The International Governance Experience of Cyber-violence Speech and its Reference [J]. Public Administration & Law, 2014.