Early this morning, a 14-year-old girl tweeted a terrorist threat at the American Airlines account. It was likely a joke, but the airline responded and turned the girl over to airport security and the U.S. FBI. Screenshots of the exchange are below:
I’m not sure why, but many people still don’t understand that they can be held accountable for what they post on social media. Maybe it’s because they feel as if their online persona is separate from their real identity. Regardless of the reason, people need to understand that the content they put on social media has real consequences. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time this has happened. Just two months ago, a woman in Spain was arrested and charged with inciting terror through her tweets.
The use of social media is increasing, so why isn’t online education? We need to have a system in place for new users to learn about what is appropriate and inappropriate to put on these sites. The girl in the tweets above is only 14. Maybe she knew what could happen and just wanted the attention, but it’s also possible she hadn’t been educated about the dangers of making threats such as these online.
As much as we’d like to think that our online personas are separate from our real lives, our words are still binding.