Peace Team

MARWA TRIAA
WALID BOUZOUITA
EMNA NAMOUCHI
CHAIMA GHRIBI
YOUSSEF ESSID
WASSIM NSIRI

CCCA2
Mentor : Raouaa Khabthani
2021/2022

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Table of contents
Background ..............................................................................................................................................3
What is Cyberbullying? .........................................................................................................................3
History of Cyberbullying .......................................................................................................................3
Effects of cyberbullying……………………………………………………………………………………………………………....…4

Laws and policies .....................................................................................................................................4

Is cyberbullying a crime in the United States? ....................................................................................4
What about Europe? ............................................................................................................................5
What about Africa and Asia?...............................................................................................................6

Tunisian Law ............................................................................................................................................6

The importance of laws and internet policies in Tunisia ......................................................................8

Our work ..................................................................................................................................................8

Methodology ........................................................................................................................................9
Our results’ analysis ............................................................................................................................9
Suggested Solutions .............................................................................................................................. 12

Our Peace Team action plan.............................................................................................................. 12

Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 12

References............................................................................................................................................. 13

Appendices…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..14

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I. Background:
What is cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying is online harassment using electronic media. We can identify bullying when it’s
repeated or when there’s an intent to harm. It can occur on social media as well as online
forums and online gaming sites. There are different types of cyberbullying: Harassment,
exclusion, outing, trolling, masquerading.
With the rise of technology, Cyberbullying has become a growing issue in countries around
the world. Therefore, we’re going to look into its history and the importance of its effect on
people.

History of cyberbullying
Internet has been approved human beings to make great progress in many areas, they have
also allowed the form of violation to become more widespread. This is evident when looking
at how traditional bullying has grown became today's issue known as cyberbullying.

In the early 90's cyberbullying started spreading around the world due to social media,
forums, and chat rooms. They were used to insult and belittle others. 2000s teens gained cell
phones and social media accounts, offering more routes for the cyberbully. On
average, 63% of the world’s population who are aged more than 13 years old are active on
social media.

Though many parents in the world believe that purchasing a cell phone for their child is for
protective reasons, the opposite may occur as many youths admit to utilizing their phones as
an instrument for cyberbullying.

Internet websites creators added moderators into their chats and forums to control bullying
and reduce it in the last 10 years, But the cyberbullying continued due to private chats and
mails.

Effects of cyberbullying:
To understand the magnitude of this problem, we can focus on its effects on the victims.
Cyberbullying can affect its victims emotionally, mentally, academically, and even physically.

Cyberbullying can be more relentless, crueler, and more damaging than real-world bullying.
Since the bullying is online, the victim can feel that they are being attacked from everywhere
even when they are in their safest place such as their home. It seems like there is no escape.
While many victims often attempt to hide such events, there can be very noticeable changes
in their behavior. Being targeted by a cyberbully may increase human's risk of anxiety,
depression, low self-esteem, or even feelings of worthlessness.

Behavioral and mental changes aren’t the only effects of cyberbullying. There can be physical
effects as well. Intense feelings of stress and anxiety due to cyberbullying can result in physical
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issues such as insomnia, gastrointestinal issues, and harmful eating patterns.

Here are the most important effects of cyberbullying:

Behavior Mental Academic

• Seeming especially quiet • Trouble sleeping • Inability to

or withdrawn • Losing interest in concentrate on work or
• Use of drugs or alcohol activities that they normally schoolwork
• Avoiding using their enjoy • Falling grades
phone • Seeming always • Desire to skip school
• Avoiding talking to angry whenever they look at or avoiding school related
friends or socializing their phone activities
• Talking about suicide
II. Laws and policies:
Is there a punishment for cyberbullying? Are there any laws in the world that protect victims
from online bullying?

Laws against cyberbullying are relatively new. Therefore, most of the countries rely on other
laws such as ones against defamation or harassment to punish the cyberbullying since
cyberbullying in itself can take different forms. Based on the situation and the country,
cyberbullying can be addressed either under criminal law or civil law. For example, in Canada
Civil law is the branch of law that deals with personal dignity and freedom as well as property
rights: this law punishes defamation and slander. But criminal law determines which actions
are crimes against the state for example harassment and publishing intimate images without
consent; it was added as an offence in 2015.

Is cyberbullying a crime in the United States?

The short answer is yes. There can be legal consequences for cyberbullying. There are no
federal laws currently that address cyberbullying. But bullying does overlap with
discriminatory harassment if it is based upon race, color, sex, age, religion, or disability. In
some cases, federal stalking charges can be brought against offenders. At this time,
cyberbullying is primarily covered by state law. In fact, many states have enacted laws
outlawing cyberstalking and cyber harassment. Also, many states are now enacting laws that
explicitly outlaw cyberbullying. At least 44 states have some laws on cyberbullying. (See annex
for the example of California)

For example:

• The state of Massachusetts has passed a law that prohibits bullying on school grounds
or at a school sponsored event.
• A recently passed law in Texas in 2017 also is attempting to crack down on
cyberbullying. This is known in Texas as David’s Law, which is named after David Molak,

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who committed suicide in early 2016, it requires all Texas school districts to create
policies to deal with cyberbullying.

What about penalties?

Since the laws vary significantly from state to state (see figure 1), the penalties for
cyberbullying are also wide-ranging. Depending on the state and its cyberbullying laws, the
penalties for cyberbullying could range anywhere from civil penalties like being suspended
or expelled from school to jail time for some felonies.

Figure 1: Map of the USA showing anti-bullying laws and policies state by state

What about Europe?

France has laws in place to outlaw cyber bullying. These laws allow for both civil and criminal
action to be taken against a cyber-bully. Maximum penalties can be as high as two years
imprisonment and a fine of €30,000. In The United Kingdom, since 1998, the law dictates that
state schools are required to have anti-bullying policies in place. Independent schools have
had similar requirements since 2003. Cyber bullying itself is not a criminal offence in the UK,
however there are numerous laws that can be applied to cyber bullying. The Protection from
Harassment Act can protect individuals from harassment, while the Telecommunications Act
makes it an offence to send anonymous, abusive phone calls. These laws have also been used
successfully in the past to prosecute in cases of cyberbullying.

European Union: “One in 10 women in the European Union report having experienced cyber-
harassment since the age of 15.” European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (2014).
Violence against women: an EU-wide survey, p. 104.

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In the European Union, the main problem within the use of the internet is that information
remains online and is difficult to remove. EU data protection rules allows cyberbullying victims
to request the removal of their personal data. It is called a “right to be forgotten”. There is not
a specific law on cyberbullying within the EU law, but the law covers some aspects such as the
expression of racism, xenophobia, and sexual harassment to someone who is below the age
of 18.

What about prevention policies? To protect minors from cyberbullying, The EU has adopted a
strategy: “Better internet for kids” in order to arm them with tools they may need in order to
use the internet safely and responsibly. It is also co-funding “Safer Internet Centers” in
European Union countries. Each national center implements a helpline that provides advice
and assistance for teenagers or children that are being cyberbullied.

What about Africa and Asia?

South Africa has implemented laws to combat cyber bullying by requiring that ISPs hand over
the contact details of any individual found to be harassing another. Children under the age of
18 can also approach the courts without their parent’s knowledge. There are no laws opposing
bullying in Kenya, despite the country having some of the highest rates of bullying within
Africa.

China has strict anti-bullying laws and is especially aggressive in its attempts to tackle cyber
bullying. The country recently passed a law requiring people to register their real names
online. This allows the government to track individuals more easily, therefore forcing
accountability on what people post online. In 2013 Japan introduced a law requiring schools
to address bullying, including cyber bullying.

III. Tunisian Law:

We don’t a general law against cyberbullying. But we have laws that can be applied to specific
cases, for example we have the article 226 of the Penal code “Violations of morality and sexual
harassment” which is the Law No. 2004-73 of 2 August 2004, amending and supplementing
the Penal Code concerning the repression of attacks on morality and sexual harassment. (See
Figure 2 below and Appendix )

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“ Any person shall be punished by six months'

imprisonment and a fine of one thousand dinars if
he publicly attacks good morals or public morality
by the act or speech or intentionally disturbs others
in a manner that offends decency.
Any person who publicly draws attention to an
opportunity to commit sexual immorality by
means of writing, recording, audio or visual,
electronic or optical messages is liable to the same
penalties set out in the preceding paragraph.”
(Translation of the Article 226 of the Penal code)

We also have another law in Telecommunication

Figure 2: Tunisian Penal code article n° 226
Code which is the article 86(Figure 3) that says:
“Any person who knowingly harms third parties or
disturbs their peace of mind through public telecommunications networks shall be punished
by a term of imprisonment of one (1) to two (2) years and a fine of one hundred (100) to one
thousand (1000) dinars.”

Figure 3: Article 86 of the Tunisian Telecommunication Code

The Tunisian constitution in its constitution (Chapter 2: Rights and Freedoms) protects
“privacy, the inviolability of the home, the confidentiality of correspondence, communications
and personal data.” (Figure 4)

Figure 4: Article 24 of the Tunisian Constitution

We need to mention a project of law that was established in 2010 but the parliament still
didn’t pass it through. It is a law penalizing cybercrime including cyber-bullying.
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The importance of laws and internet policies in Tunisia:

Khaoula Boukrim, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the “Kashf Media” website, carried out a
journalistic investigation into the crimes of moral and sexual harassment online. This media
outlet was created by the Bina association made up of journalists and active members of civil
society. They focus essentially on the northwest of Tunisia where the media are not very
developed. In her article the journalist said that she focused mainly on the forms of blackmail
that can be used on the Internet. She referred to videos and photos of men and women that
are being spread overnight on pornographic sites. She also explains that sexual blackmail has
been used since the fifties by spy agencies and it is just the blackmail tools that have evolved
with the democratization of the Internet. She also mentioned that she has received several
testimonies from women from different ages and social categories “students, employees,
housewives etc.” who ended up being blackmailed after establishing relationships with men
on social networks. This new phenomenon is getting bigger through time and is one of the
most common forms of cyberbullying in Tunisia. So nowadays, to undermine the reputation
of a public figure, it is enough to broadcast a compromising video on the internet. Kashf
Media’s editor-in-chief points out that in sexual blackmail cases that end up in court, judges
tend to make conservative decisions since there is no specific law on this type of cyberbullying.

This is a proof of the deficiency in our Tunisian law.

In April 2020, The Tunisian Agency of Cybersecurity (ANSI) issued an alert to Tunisian internet
users because a wave of cyber-harassment that threatened the users. It took form in scam-
type emails. ANSI explained that the hacker sends an email-spam stating that he has the
passwords of the victims and that he has taken control of his web browser remotely and filmed
the victim via their webcam. Therefore, ANSI advised Tunisian internet users to ignore the
emails and disable the webcam.

This shows that cyberbullying can target a big number of internet users and that the existence
of organizations such as ANSI is important to alarm the online users.

IV. Our work:

We are the “Peace” team. We worked on a survey about

cyberbullying. In the Figure n°5 is represented our logo
and slogan. Cyberbullying can happen anonymously. The
bully is usually anonymous. That's why the logo is
someone anonymous and it contains numbers to mention
that we talk about cyberspace which means the virtual
computer world.

Figure 5: The Peace Team logo and slogan

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The slogan should be a catchphrase that is easy to remember that communicates a message
about our topic cyber bullying, so that's why we chose “don’t be mean behind the screen” for
this mission. Our slogan is simple and clear. Bullying behind the screen is just mean and should
not be seen. Our job is to look for cyber peace and to raise awareness about cyberbullying, so
the slogan contains a message that prevents cyber-attacks that is increasing over time.

Our Survey:

Please see the appendix for the full survey.

Methodology:

Our survey was published for a certain category of the society, mainly students and young
people, which explains the age question’s results. We started asking general facts (age) and
simple yes/no questions then went through knowing details about their experience with
cyberbullying whether it’s a personal one or that happened to someone they knew with multi-
choice and one sentence questions. Our questions were mostly yes or no questions or single
choice answer to make it simple and quick. Otherwise, most people would think of it as too
complicated or too long.

Our results’ analysis:

For the full results look at our Appendix page X.

Fifty-five responses were obtained within 48 hours for this questionnaire with almost equal
numbers for all genders with a majority of the survey’s population between 19 and 25 years.
Note that the response for each age interval differs.
One out of two people have experienced bullying. Bullying based on the responses of our
survey can take place in various stages of people’s lives. Everyone can be a victim of bullying.

Figure 6: Diagram representing the age for bullying of our survey's population

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However, for most of the people who answered our survey, they experienced this in their
early teen years. (Figure6) Most of the victims were bullied around the age of twelve. In that
age, children can be mean if not if they are not well educated and supervised by adults. They
may project their insecurities on their victims by harassing them. Around that age, they
discover social media and discover the good and the bad side of internet. Some of them
become the bad side of internet. Some children hide behind a screen and lash out on their
victims in diverse ways that we will discuss later. Moreover, one of the most common
reasons behind children bullying others is the lack of attention from their parent. Another
reason is also being bullied by themselves for example by their older sibling. To empower
themselves, they execute the bullying to which they have been subjected.
There is a saying “Hurt people hurt people “that should be taken into consideration in this
case.
In our survey, we also notice that one out of two people decide to speak about it to
someone. We should raise more awareness towards this big issue: the silence of victims. If
every victim of cyberbullying or bullying in general spoke about it, there is a bigger chance
that the bullying stops. In this case, they hear another opinion that could help them and
calm them. The other person could speak to the bully or try to help the victim and find a
solution to stop this problem
Did you ever take a stand for yourself or and this is easier when the
anyone who was bullied? How ? victim of online bullying
already knows to bully. They
Don't want to answer can get reported: so, this will
Responses

be a big threat to use against

Yes them to stop. In the last
question of the survey,
No
those who defended other
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 victims list diverse ways they
Number of responses interfered with. (Figure 7)
Figure 7: Bar chart of answers

Responses for yes:

• By force or by conversations
• Talking to the bullyx4
• Look for the bully and threaten him
• Replying with violence
• Not for myself but for other people because I know how it feels
• Psychiatric aid
• Reporting the bully’s account or blocking x3
In our survey, one of the biggest reasons behind victim’s silence was not knowing how to
report and fear of shame. There is a certain stigma and image that should be broken around
cyberbullying. If we talk about it more, victims will fear more comfortable reporting and

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recognizing in the first place that they are being bullied and they will know ways to report
their bullies. (Figure8)

Figure 8: Bar chart representing the biggest reasons behind the silence of the victims

When we look into our survey’s statistics, the main ways people get cyberbullied are through
hacking, sharing personal information which is called doxing and being subjected to mean
messages and comments (which is called trolling).

Figure 9: Bar chart representing the responses for ways of bullying

This (figure 9) confirms that cyberbullying could take different forms online such as text
messaging, email, and instant messaging bullying, sharing images, interactive game bullying
and online chatroom bullying.

We also notice through our survey that 85% of people knew someone that was bullied online.
It shows how common this phenomenon is becoming since the rise of the internet and social
media. We need to make a change and stop it.

While asking our population about their knowledge on the Tunisian law regarding
cyberbullying almost 62% said that there’s no law that can protect victims from this problem.
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It is also the case for internet companies, almost 82% answered that they don’t think they are
protected enough from cyberbullying with internet companies’ policies.

V. Suggested Solutions:
Our parliament needs to pass a law that is more specific to cyberbullying. Schools need to
have strict policies and procedures that are included in their official internal regulations of the
school. Schools also need to raise awareness to this issue among parents and students. They
need to have a cyberbullying day, work on projects that talk about this problem in order to
reduce it and reduce the lack of awareness and stigma around it.

We need also to teach parents how to recognize the cyberbullying for example when they
notice a change in their child’s behavior. We also need to teach people how to report
cyberbullying to online service providers since cyberbullying violates terms of service
established by online sites. We also need to make people aware about how to report
cyberbullying to law enforcement and schools.

Our Peace Team action plan:

• Raising awareness among our surroundings about this increasing issue.

• Complying with guidelines to ensure children and young people are kept safe online.

• Providing emotional support for those affected by cyberbullying.

• Improving the understanding of children, young people, parents and other
‘influential adults’.
• Technological solutions that support children and young people’s emotional
wellbeing online.
• Future meetings and working in collaboration with children and young people.

VI. Conclusion:
Cyberbullying is a growing issue within our society that should be taken seriously and be
stopped. We need to notice and be able to recognize cyberbullying, talk about it within our
surroundings (school, friends, family etc.), report it (to websites, to the school or the police)
and finally support the victims by offering help and guidance.

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Bibliography:
https://backlinko.com/social-media-users

https://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy/digital-issues/cyberbulling/cyberbullying-law

https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2020-global-digital-overview
https://epthinktank.eu/2018/10/28/victims-of-cyberbullying-what-europe-does-for-you/
https://www.jurisitetunisie.com/tunisie/codes/telecom/telcom1065.htm
https://www.jurisitetunisie.com/tunisie/codes/cp/L04-0073.htm
https://www.webdo.tn/2020/04/27/tunisie-lansi-met-en-garde-contre-une-vague-de-cyber-
harcelement/
https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/how-to-report
https://epthinktank.eu/2018/10/28/victims-of-cyberbullying-what-europe-does-for-you/
https://www.hcalawyers.com.au/blog/bullying-laws-around-the-world/
https://www.verywellfamily.com/cyberbullying-laws-4588306
https://www.federalcharges.com/cyberbullying-laws-charges/
Goerzig, Anke & Machackova, Hana. (2015). Cyberbullying from a socio-ecological
perspective: A contemporary synthesis of findings from EU Kids Online. Media@LSE Working
Paper Series. 36.

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VII. Appendices:

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Cyberbullying survey
"Cyberbullying is bullying with the use of digital technologies. It can take place on social media,
messaging platforms, gaming platforms and mobile phones. It is repeated behaviour, aimed at
scaring, angering or shaming those who are targeted." Unicef

*Obligatoire

1. Adresse e-mail *

2. Your gender *

Une seule réponse possible.

male

Female

Prefer not to say

3. Your age *

Une seule réponse possible.

10 - 18

19 - 25

25 - 30

30-35

35+

4. Have you ever been bullied? *

Une seule réponse possible.

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yes

No

5. If yes how old were you?

6. If yes, have you told someone about being cyberbullied?

Une seule réponse possible.

yes

no

7. If yes can you specify how?

8. Was the bully someone you knew?

Une seule réponse possible.

yes

No

9. Do you know someone who has ever been bullied? * Une seule réponse possible.

yes

no
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10. If yes, were they a boy or a girl?

Une seule réponse possible.

Boy

Girl

11. How were they bullied ?

12. Was the bully someone he or she knew?

Une seule réponse possible.

yes

no

13. Do you think the tunisian law punishes cyberbullying ? *

Une seule réponse possible.

yes

No

14. What is the biggest reason why victims stay silent ? *

Plusieurs réponses possibles.

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Fear of shame and embarrassment

Concern about being believed
They think they can fix it on their own
Failure to Recognize Bullying
Not knowing how to report

15. Did you ever take a stand for yourself or anyone who was bullied? How ? *

16. Do you think Internet companies protect its users enough from online bullying?
*

Une seule réponse possible.

yes

No

Forms

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Full Survey Data:

Figure 10: Diagram representing the genders of our survey population

Figure 11: Diagram representing the age of our survey population

Figure 12: Diagram representing the response of our survey population

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Responses for the age of bullying

Don't remember/different ages
24
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Age of bullying

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18
16
14
12
10
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Number of people

Figure 13: Diagram representing the age for bullying of our survey's population

Figure 14: Diagram representing the responses of our survey's population

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Figure 15: Bar chart representing the ways of online bullying

Figure 16: Diagram representing the percentage of people who knew their bullies

Figure 17: Diagram of responses

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Figure 18: Diagram representing the percentages of genders of the bullies

Figure 19: Bar chart representing the responses for ways of bullying

Figure 20: Diagram representing percentages of responses

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Figure 21: Diagram representing our survey's population opinion on the Tunisian law

Figure 22: Bar chart representing the biggest reasons behind the silence of the victims

Figure 23:Diagram representing our survey's population opinion on Internet companies’ protection policies

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Did you ever take a stand for yourself or anyone

who was bullied? How ?

Don't want to answer

Responses

Yes

No

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Number of responses

Figure 24: Bar chart of answers

Responses for yes:

• By force or by conversations
• Talking to the bullyx4
• Look for the bully and threaten him
• Replying with violence since the bully do not know their limits
• Not for myself but for other people because I know how it feels
• psychiatric aid
• Reporting the bully’s account or blocking x3
• Defending the victim

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