How Celebrities Deal With Cyberbullies

The sudden death of Aamir Liaquat turned out to be a massive wake-up call for the stakeholders of social media.

Cyberbullying is a rising fad on social media- one that will not be vacating the social media space anytime.

Often, the internet seems no less than a vicious jungle where the rule of cruelty and abuse is prevalent. No one is safe or immune to it. However, the phenomenon of celebrity trolling is the most ruthless of all where stars and their lives are desecrated without any pity. After all, the daily happenings of famous people are hardly private to their followers and haters, alike.

Some choose to be bold and share their personal updates with the world. Those who don’t, often get targeted by paparazzi and eventually, find their lives being shared online. And from here begins a spree of cyber-bullets and a throng of keyboard warriors spewing vitriol- not caring that celebrities have mental health and families that get affected.

The devastating influence of cyberbullies

The sudden death of Aamir Liaquat turned out to be a massive wake-up call for the stakeholders of social media. All of a sudden, everybody realized that they have done the deceased televangelist wrong by attacking him with hate comments, harassing him with memes, and mocking him after his leaked videos surfaced.

However, the damage was done. He might have died of some unknown causes- but it was apparent that solitude and depression compelled him to go into hibernation and ultimately, made him depart the world.

ALH wasn’t the first and he will not be the last. So many Pakistani stars get cyber-bullied every day. Some have devised coping mechanisms, either clapping them back with positivity or sheer sass to bring their tyrants down.

Karachi Se Lahore’s hero Yasir Hussain is surely on the top of the list of celebrities who usually become on the hit list of keyboard warriors. How does he protect himself from trolls, we asked. “I am amongst the first stars who got bullied on social media due to my bold views and straightforward nature. From then only, I realized who these aimless keyboard warriors are who indulge in bullying to bring themselves forward on social media. They do not affect my life. However, a remark of a sort does affect me when it comes from someone close to me and emotionally attached to me.”

Sayaa 2 star Mashal Khan often posts interesting dance videos that become fodder for social media snipers. But she believes that it is best to ignore the verbal attacks, “Focus on fans who love you. Haters don’t matter.”

Sami Khan is one such actor who posts harmless content on his social media. However, he too comes under fire- often for his projects that fail to appeal to the public. He too believes that ignoring is the best policy. “Ignoring such comments is the best reply. The trolls are mostly attention seekers. Ignore them and they’ll go away. I give importance to comments from verified accounts only and preferably in person from people I know.”

Ranjha Ranjha Kardi actor Jibran Syed too agrees with the rest of the stars, “Cyberbullying is a crime. One needs to understand that cyberbullying should be condemned at all levels. I deal with cyberbullies by not giving them the due importance of a response from my end. The sole reason a keyboard warrior is because our responses make them one. The moment they don’t get the due response they fizzle out and try to find another target.”

Personal life- to share or not to share?

For quite some time, it has been a never-ending debate that stars should be ready for all the ridicule possible as they willingly make their professional and personal lives for the public to behold. However, is it necessary to share life’s intimate details with fans? Also, does fame mean that celebrities will have their privacy stripped even when they prefer to be discreet? We asked celebrities their opinion on the matter on the significance of boasting a social media presence and to what extent one should share their personal details.

“Social media presence is extremely important for stars as their whole work depends on these platforms. So much so, a drama is watched more on YouTube rather than on T.V. However, one should not give it so much significance to the extent of hiring people to grow it and post content,” said Yasir Hussain.

“However, one should share their personal life as they will. I believe one should not share their struggle so openly on social media. From me to Humayun Saeed, we all have been working hard. Our fans have an entertainment avatar in their minds for us and we should let them pertain to that,” he adds.

Mashal Khan too shares her personal life as she deems fit, “I like to keep my personal life private and I post on social media when I feel like I have something to share. There’s no set schedule that I need to keep up with online.”

Meanwhile, Sami Khan believes it is important to share one’s personal life to an extent to update the followers, “It’s a sad fact that social media presence and number of followers has overshadowed talent and potential. I don’t like sharing my personal life but I have to do it within a certain limit because it’s a necessity for today’s market.”

On the contrary, Jibran Syed claims it’s a no-no to share one’s private affairs on Instagram, “Personally I am quite lazy at maintaining my social media presence but in today’s world, it is quite important. As far as personal stuff is concerned, it’s a big NO from my end. I share only the stuff I want them to know about it and my family and personal life are not included in it.”

If truth be told, some people will continue to love and some will hate no matter what a star does! Perhaps they are vacationing or flaunting an ensemble they love, chilling with their beau, or merely expressing an opinion; the desecrating moment from harassers can come at any moment. But that instant of degradation should never turn into a long-lasting revocation or an unfading controversy that marks the end of their career- or perhaps even their life.