PEOPLEACT

A long while ago, I fell in love with someone, but life happened, and we broke things off. Oh, and I forgot the part where he ruined my life right after that. This is a cautionary tale about how vulnerable we are nowadays to someone ruining you with a few dozen strokes of the keyboard and the click of a mouse. I hope that whoever ends up reading this walks away knowing that blindly believing everything you see on Facebook and harassing someone on Facebook can have far reaching consequences, and to think before they type.

In 2012, Kamala was only 17 years old when she met someone on Facebook who introduced himself as a 30-year-old heir from Mumbai working as an engineer in a company. But things took an ugly turn.

Once your freedom has been robbed, it changes you as a person,” a survivor of cyber harassment testifies.

It has been more than two years since Farya Yunus experienced cyber harassment. She says that while she no longer fears for her life, she has learned to censor herself online.

“I used to think the Internet is a space where I can express, share, learn and grow as a human being. I was so wrong. It is the scariest space I have ever been.

The impact of these messages grew and grew. They affected me not only when I was at home on my computer, but throughout all aspects of my life. They followed me around when I was with my family, with my friends, and when I tried to sleep. And at college he was always there, just staring at me. But it was always me who would feel ashamed and turn away.

In 2010, Aminah co-created a blog that promoted discussions on religion in Malaysia. The blog attracted many anonymous users, especially one who persistently left comments insulting Islam, which became viral.