Cyberbullying and Social Media

Abstract

Through the use of Internet, the world has become a global village, connecting diverse people, cultures, and countries together. Technology has made remarkable and transformative changes in human lives and societies, boosting the economies of nations. However, some people have taken advantage of this to perpetuate cybercrimes, and one of such cybercrimes is cyberbullying (online abuse), which manifests itself in various forms such as pranking, impersonation, hacking, fake news, among others. The negative impacts of cyberbullying on African digital space and Africa at large are disheartening, and the possibility of dealing with this monstrous online crime in Africa has not yielded much positive results due to insufficient technological infrastructures, personnel, and knowledge. Cyberbullies use social media to enhance their nefarious activities, reaching out to their gullible victims with ease. As such, our lead questions are as follows: How is cyberbullying perpetuated in African digital space? What impact does cyberbullying have on Afrocentric society? How best can cyberbullying be dealt with in African digital space? In this chapter, we critically examine cyberbullying and social media in light of African digital space, the communication means adopted by cyberbullies and their implications for African digital space and Africa at large. We, therefore, argue for artificial intelligence knowledge production and application as a potential solution to combating cyberbullying in African digital space