Happy Slapping, or how new technologies can contribute to violence

When I tried to find an example of violence on the Internet, the happpy slapping immediately came to my mind. Indeed, last year, I made my internship in the company SFR, a mobile phone network company based in France. I was in charge of strategic watch, and of the subjects I had to deal with was happy slapping, which is related to new technologies in general (mobile phones and Internet).

 

 

Happy slapping consists in filming a physical attack with a video camera or a mobile phone, and in posting the video on the Internet. It can be different kinds of violence, from verbal violence to sexual one. Internet allows the “happy slappers” (the people who commit those violent acts) to diffuse widely those videos.

This phenomenon began in 2005 in South London, and quickly expanded to other countries, in particular thanks to Internet who made this practice very popular. That’s why the happy slapping is an example of violent practice which has developed with Internet, and which includes this tool in its action.

Many articles have been written and many reports have been done about happy slapping. I invite you to watch this video about happy slapping in the UK :

 

But happy slapping is only one aspect of violence on the Internet. 

Indeed, it exists many websites that celebrate violence and magnifies borderline behaviours. For example, on some websites, deaths are recorded and replayed thousands of times over the Internet. We can also evoke the phenomenon of snuff movies (movies in which people rape other people and kill them, while filming). 

 

To conclude, Internet doesn’t reinforce violence (violence has still existed and will still exist), but it contributes to make it more visible.