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New Restaurant
The city is excited to announce that a new Mexican Restaurant, El Patron will be opening during the first part of October at 485 Main Street. The City has been working diligently to have our store front occupied. We will have an announcement for the official ribbon cutting soon!
Social Media
In the last couple weeks, the mayor has had three residents reach out to him wanting assistance as they are being harassed, bullied, and slandered on social media. Upon review of the City ordinances, harassment is currently specified as telephone harassment and mirrors Illinois Law. The City needs to update the City ordinances to once again mirror state laws.
A City Ordinance is a good starting point for charging someone. If you are a victim of Harassment and slander you should notify a page administrator if it is on a group page. Otherwise report the post to Social Media forum such as Facebook and Next-door.
Illinois law makes it a crime to harass another person by using any type of electronic communication, including cell phones, smartphones, and computers. A person harasses another by knowingly engaging in conduct that would and does cause emotional distress to another.
Harassment should be reported to law enforcement. Whether criminal charges may or may not be filed will vary from county to county.
You may also pursue civil action against the person doing the harassing/bullying. Unfortunately, we really can’t recommend any specific attorney.
The terminology ‘social media harassment’, sometimes characterized as online bullying, refers to the employment of the internet to stalk, intimidate, harm, embarrass, or disgrace someone. Abuse, harassing, trolls, flaming, and other forms of cyberbullying are all examples of cyberbullying. Some words are interchangeable, while others have lost their significance. Online abuse or online harassment, as defined by PEN America, is the widespread or severe targeting of an individual or group online through destructive actions.
Actions of Social Media Harassment
In September, a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. citizens discovered that 41% of Americans had directly encountered social media harassment.
Delivering aggressive or unwanted emails
- Encourage people to send the victim unsolicited or threatening emails or send the victim excessive emails.
- Viruses sent via email are electronic sabotage.
- Disseminating rumors.
- Posting online disparaging remarks about the subject.
- Negative messages are sent directly to the suffering.
- Trying to impersonate the victim electronically by delivering a provocative, contentious, or tempting message, causing others to react badly to the victim.
- Throughout a live conversation, abusing the victim.
- Abusing others online, particularly on social networking platforms.
- Distributing obscenity or other explicit content to the victim with the intent to offend.
- Creating information on the internet that portrays the victim in a bad light.
Types of Social Media Harassment
Abusers have created fake names and profiles. They may also impersonate fans or followers of an artist's work and send damaging and insulting remarks disguised as constructive criticism. Counter-speech can be futile, and banning may intensify the abuse since concern trolls are attempting to attract the eye and spend your time. If you believe a name or profile is fake you should report it.
It's possible that muting, which allows users to suppress certain offensive content, so people wouldn't have to see it, is more helpful. Ensure careful to identify any information that crosses the line from bothersome to abusive.
In a strict context, "cyberstalking" refers to the employment of abusive behaviors electronically over an extended period to murder, harm, threaten, terrorize through the surveillance of a person online. Cyberstalking is a federal offense, and several countries have laws against it.
One might choose to pursue legal action regarding being cyberstalked if they feel unsafe by calling law enforcement or obtaining legal guidance. Other tactics include:
- Banning your stalker on social networking sites.
- Recording every annoying episode related to cyberstalking.
- Ensuring your online accounts are secure if you suspect identity theft
Click on links below regarding Harassment. You should report online harassment to law enforcement. Depending on the situation criminal charges may or may not be possible. Documentation is always important in thew event escalation of harassment occurs.
https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/01/13/the-state-of-online-harassment/
https://www.bdblaw.com/how-to-report-social-media-harassment/
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