02-03-2016, 01:20 PM
On New Year’s Day, 13-year-old Nicole Lovell reportedly posted a photo of herself in the Facebook group Teen Dating and Flirting, along with the question: “Cute or nah?” The post apparently garnered 304 responses, most of which were mean-spirited.
![[Image: 0202nicolelovellfacebook.png]](http://s.newsweek.com/sites/www.newsweek.com/files/styles/lg/public/2016/02/02/0202nicolelovellfacebook.png)
Even after the Blacksburg, Virginia, teenager’s disappearance and murder in late January, the members of that Facebook group continued to cyberbully Lovell. That is until Tuesday afternoon, when the group went offline, just after Virginia Tech students David Eisenhauer, 18, and Natalie Marie Keepers, 19, were charged with involvement in Lovell’s death.
“No dead people allowed!” one group member commented on a post about Lovell, hours before the group’s page disappeared from Facebook. Another member, using expletives, wrote that the killing was justified because of the victim’s appearance.
In the aftermath of Lovell’s death, groups such as Help Save the Next Girl and Justice for Children Without Voices asked Facebook to remove the group.
A Facebook representative tells Newsweek that the social network does not comment on specific cases or Facebook groups, and directed Newsweek to the social network’s community standards. Because there are 1.55 billion Facebook users and millions of Facebook groups, the representative says, the company only becomes aware of potentially problematic content if a user reports that content. A group can be disabled for repeat violations, the representative adds.
Justice for Children Without Voices says it had reported the group for containing nudity and that Facebook confirmed that it removed the group.
It is possible that Lovell and Eisenhauer met through Teen Dating and Flirting or through another social media platform, according to reports.
Parents are now beginning to fight tech with tech, as a slew of smartphone apps are now available to help them track how their children use phones. TeenSafe, for example, lets parents monitor their child’s text messages (including deleted ones), phone calls, social media use, Internet browsing history and location. It claims to have more than 1 million parent users.
According to a January Pew Research Center study of how parents monitor their teens’ use of technology, 94 percent of parents surveyed said they talk to their teens about appropriate Web sharing. Thirty-nine percent said they block, filter or monitor their child’s online activities.
Services such as TeenSafe also enable parents to monitor third-party apps, such as Kik Messenger, which claims to have 240 million users. According to its website, more than 40 percent of American teens use the messenger.
Full piece: http://www.newsweek.com/nicole-lovell-vi...ook-422355
Even after the Blacksburg, Virginia, teenager’s disappearance and murder in late January, the members of that Facebook group continued to cyberbully Lovell. That is until Tuesday afternoon, when the group went offline, just after Virginia Tech students David Eisenhauer, 18, and Natalie Marie Keepers, 19, were charged with involvement in Lovell’s death.
“No dead people allowed!” one group member commented on a post about Lovell, hours before the group’s page disappeared from Facebook. Another member, using expletives, wrote that the killing was justified because of the victim’s appearance.
In the aftermath of Lovell’s death, groups such as Help Save the Next Girl and Justice for Children Without Voices asked Facebook to remove the group.
A Facebook representative tells Newsweek that the social network does not comment on specific cases or Facebook groups, and directed Newsweek to the social network’s community standards. Because there are 1.55 billion Facebook users and millions of Facebook groups, the representative says, the company only becomes aware of potentially problematic content if a user reports that content. A group can be disabled for repeat violations, the representative adds.
Justice for Children Without Voices says it had reported the group for containing nudity and that Facebook confirmed that it removed the group.
It is possible that Lovell and Eisenhauer met through Teen Dating and Flirting or through another social media platform, according to reports.
Parents are now beginning to fight tech with tech, as a slew of smartphone apps are now available to help them track how their children use phones. TeenSafe, for example, lets parents monitor their child’s text messages (including deleted ones), phone calls, social media use, Internet browsing history and location. It claims to have more than 1 million parent users.
According to a January Pew Research Center study of how parents monitor their teens’ use of technology, 94 percent of parents surveyed said they talk to their teens about appropriate Web sharing. Thirty-nine percent said they block, filter or monitor their child’s online activities.
Services such as TeenSafe also enable parents to monitor third-party apps, such as Kik Messenger, which claims to have 240 million users. According to its website, more than 40 percent of American teens use the messenger.
Full piece: http://www.newsweek.com/nicole-lovell-vi...ook-422355