British firm now offering 'troll insurance'
A high-end insurance company in the United Kingdom is now offering a 鈥渢roll insurance鈥� policy designed to cover expenses that result from being cyberbullied, as well as offering counseling and teams of online sleuths to track down anonymous trolls and bring them to justice.
奥丑颈濒别听聽in Britain is not the first to offer troll-related insurance 鈥� AIG鈥檚聽聽holds that distinction with a policy protecting parents of would-be trolls from lawsuits 鈥� this policy is the , the Financial Times reports.
Chubb's clients may claim up to $76,000 in expenses for counseling, moving home from college, and work leave. In extreme cases the policies also offer the service of a team to repair an online reputation, and a聽cyber team聽equipped to track down anonymous trolls.
"We see insurance as helping our clients get back to how they were before the incident occurred 鈥� whether it's an incident that affects their home or as a person," Tara Parchment, Chubb's UK and Ireland private clients manager, told the Telegraph.
"So we still help to restore homes, cars and belongings that have suffered physical harm or damage," she said. "But increasingly it's about the person and how they cope."
A 2014 Lexington Innovation Report聽concluded that, 鈥淎t least 25 percent of teenagers with tech access report being cyberbullied 鈥� and that number is growing. With this rise in cyberbullying has come a significant increase in cyberbullying cases in federal and state courts.鈥�
Sameer Hinduja, professor of criminology and criminal justice at Florida Atlantic University and co-director of the聽聽says in an interview, 鈥淲hat our research is showing with kids and young adults is that while cyberbullying isn鈥檛 increasing but it isn鈥檛 decreasing either. That鈥檚 the problem. It鈥檚 hanging in there.鈥�
Dr.聽Hinduja notes that Chubb's intended clients are wealthy families, but he questions the effectiveness of such policies. "I鈥檓 not sure it鈥檚 really going to be that valuable to most people," he says. "Maybe perhaps nominally by offering a perceived measure of protection, but insurance companies can鈥檛 possibly insure against every claim of 'cyberbullying' because what that term constitutes is often foggy.鈥�
Hinduja's organization, he聽says, gets 鈥渓arge number of requests" 聽from adults saying they have been attacked online. "We definitely try to reach out to those sites and pass along the screenshots we take to try and get those companies to get those posts or accounts taken down.鈥�
鈥淲e advise them to contact an attorney, but many can鈥檛 afford it 鈥� and if they can鈥檛 afford that then they most likely can鈥檛 afford this type of insurance,鈥� Hinduja聽says.
Online bullying may be virtual in nature, but the suffering can be very real, says Hinduja. 鈥淢any times,"聽he聽says, "those most traumatized are those whose social sphere is completely online and when someone is mean to them there, that鈥檚 it devastates their whole world.鈥�
As all of us move deeper and deeper into social media, Hinduja says, 鈥渨e鈥檙e constantly comparing our lives with the highlight reels of everyone else鈥檚 and so maybe that sets us out to feel bad about ourselves and our lives, and so we are already in a vulnerable position.鈥�
鈥淎s such, when you鈥檙e harassed and mistreated there, perhaps it affects you more deeply because you are unfortunately positioned vulnerably already in a mindset of falling short, or not measuring up, or scarity, or lack.,鈥� Hinduja says.
鈥淚 want to see kids, and even adults, to work on becoming the best version of themselves. Don鈥檛 subject yourself to all this comparison and jockeying for likes and comments. Try not to always be validated and affirmed by everybody else鈥檚 opinion because when you give them the power to validate you, you have also given them the power to invalidate you.鈥�
