Prolonged offensive and false writing

This is how Someturva helped.

Hi!

Thank you for telling about your situation to Someturva. So sorry to hear that offensive and false information has been written about you online and on many different social media platforms. We are glad that you contacted us! Below is our assessment of your situation and a suggestion of what you could do.

Legal assessment

You reported that offensive and false information have been spread about you on several different platforms for a few years now. They have already spread to many people and caused problems in your employment. Spreading false and offensive statements on social media can be a crime called defamation. Spreading lies is always wrong, but some lies are considered worse than others from the legal point of view. The legal assessment takes into account, among other things, the exact content of the false claims, how offensive they are and to how many people the lies have been spread to. You said that spreading these offensive and false things has caused you a lot of trouble and it has also had an impact on your employment. We assess that the limit of defamation has exceeded in your situation.

What we recommend you to do

Your situation seems really serious, and no one should have to put up with such badmouthing. We recommend that you file a police report. It is important to give the police as much accurate information as possible about the situation: when did the situation start, do you know who started spreading the stories, on which platforms the offensive and false information was spread and when. In addition, it is good to remember to tell the police about the consequences of this situation, such as possible loss of income or mental effects.

Offensive comments should be collected, for example, by taking screenshots. Always collect the comments and messages written in the same channel together. In such long-standing situations, collecting evidence certainly seems like a lot of work and an unreasonable task, but according to our experience, it can contribute significantly to the progress of the case at the police's end. It would be really good if, for example, your family members or friends could help you in collecting the material. No one should have to read self-deprecating comments, and we don't recommend you to go through them alone. Your mental welfare has been put to the test anyway, so the support of your close ones would be important in solving the matter.

Once you have collected the evidence, you should contact the administration of the online and social media platforms and ask them to remove the publications and comments regarding the false information. Individual comments can be reported to administration by using the reporting function of the platform. If there is a thread with several comments or false claims spread to several different threads on the same platform, it would be good to report the entire situation to the administration. It is therefore worth checking if there is a place on the platforms where you can contact the administration directly.

Your own well-being is important

Badmouthing is unfortunately common on social media and can happen to anyone. You haven't done anything wrong, and you're definitely not alone in your situation. It can be just a coincidence that you are the one who has been the target of spreading lies and offensive claims! Don’t be alone in this situation. Discuss it with people close to you and, if necessary, also with the professionals. You have to take good care of yourself. You can also discuss the matter confidentially with a low threshold for example in the Sekasin chat. In addition, if you need support with regard to the criminal process, there is a chat service on the website of the Victim Support Finland, where it is possible to discuss it further with professionals.

Did you find our answer helpful? If you still need more help, please contact us. We will do our best to help you.

Best regards,
Someturva team