Cyrberstalking is becoming increasingly common as people share their lives on social media.
Social media is an exciting place. It is a wide, wonderful wired space, a portal to instant connections. For millions, its ability to connect families and friends across vast geographical distances has made it an important utility for creatures craving connection.
Yet the dangers lurking behind social media platforms present a growing threat to users worldwide. One of them, a growing trend, is cyberstalking. Strictly speaking, this occurs when a person persistently receives unsolicited messages online, but can loosely include anti-social behaviours that make one feel unsafe.
“… Cyberstalking can result in serious physical, emotional and psychological consequences for the victim despite the absence of mutual geographical surroundings. Furthermore, cyber stalking is the use of the Internet or other communication technology to harass or menace someone,” writes Shandre Kim Sissing in a study on cyberstalking in South Africa.
In many cases, users unwittingly expose themselves to the threats posed by cyberstalkers. An action as simple as posting a picture to celebrate a happy moment can have dire consequences in the most extreme cases. A quick foray through the TikTok profile of ‘Jose Monkey’, a self-described “nerd”, and you’ll know exactly why.
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Finding people
Monkey’s page is full of videos demonstrating the relative ease with which stalkers can find the precise location of someone. All he needs, it seems, are a few seemingly-safe pictures, videos and a bit of nerding out and voila, location found!
“I find people who ask to be found,” he says, standing in front of a blank wall. “When I say I will find you, what I mean is I will try to figure out where one of your videos was recorded.”
In one video, which has racked up more than 10 000 likes and nearly 100 000 views in just a day, he tracks down the location of a woman simply with the help of what anyone might consider a perfectly safe video.
Seated in the safety of a car, the woman challenges Jose to find her, before doing a quick pan of her surroundings. All we see is a parking lot, a random building and not much else. Just like any ordinary video teenagers might post for a goofy TikTok.
“This one is a good example of the kind of video that many people would look at and might say ‘Yeah I could post this, nobody’s gonna know where that is’. But they’d be wrong and, as it turns out, it’s not even a hard one.”
Over the next three minutes or so, viewers might find their jaws drop as he exposes the location of the video. The blurry storefront, licence plates, an awning – these were just some of the objects that helped him pinpoint the location. “You are in this parking lot near Dicksons Sporting Goods in Olympia, Washington,” he replies to the woman.
The comments below the video shows anyone who watched the video would have been creeped out. “Not me parking in the exact same spot at work for the past 16 years,” remarks user @NotHerRealName.
@the_josemonkey Could be anywhere, right? 🤔 #geolocation #OSINT #longervideos ♬ original sound – josemonkey
It gets worse. “You would not believe how many videos I have seen where people inadvertently reveal their address because they showed a stray envelope or package,” he says in another video where he shares safety tips.
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Tips to be safe from cyberstalking
Of course, Jose Monkey finds people strictly with their consent – and only for people over 18. The whole idea is to inform people about the dangers of carelessly posting their lives on social media.
But what stops others from doing the same with malicious intent? This leaves virtually anyone making use of these apps vulnerable to previous partners, casual acquaintances and friends, colleagues … even random strangers.
“Obviously, if you’ve seen my videos, you’ve learnt how little details that you post online can give away your location,” he says. But there’s a caveat: These steps might make it harder to find you, but definitely not impossible, he warns.
The only way to be absolutely safe is to “never post anything at all,” he suggests. But not everyone can survive without sharing their glamorous lives on social media, especially in 2023, right?! Luckily, there are steps that can be taken to minimise this vulnerability and use social media in as safe and fun a way as possible.
1. Avoid posting content filmed immediately outside the place where you live or work. “If you record a video that’s out somewhere in public, if somebody does happen to figure out where it is, at least they cannot trace it back to where you live or the company that you work for.”
2. Avoid including anything with writing on it. “When you are out in the world, there’s information around you all the time. Sometimes the sources are obvious; street signs, store signs, but they could also be information on things we don’t pay much attention to, like licence plates or stickers on cars,” he says.
3. The less you move around, the better. “Unless your video really requires that you move around, you are better off staying in one place and not moving your camera too much. The longer the video is and the more you move your camera, the more opportunities there are to show things that you do not intend. This goes for videos recorded in cars as well.”
4. Mind your clothes! “People often forget that their clothes and accessories can have bits of information that can tell people things about you and where you are. Sometimes it’s obvious, like ID badges or name tags, but it can also be hats or clothing that identify a local business, the company you work for, your favourite sports team or even the school you attend.”
5. Review before posting. “When you review it, don’t look at the thing you were trying to record. Look at the other side. Take another pass and make sure it’s not showing things you do not want to show.”
There are also other safety tips for social media users to safeguard against the weirdos out there. For example, mums eager to post their kids with trophies on Instagram, Facebook or whichever app it may be, might want to set their profiles to ‘private’.
Cyberstalking is likely to become more prevalent as social media becomes further entrenched in the modern lifestyle. The bad news is that the best way to avoid the madness really is to just stay off these platforms, but it might be wise to take steps to be safe if you absolutely must post content on social media.
