If you use Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, blogs or YouTube you may see negative content and conversations. For example, users posting inaccurate, inflammatory and insulting content.
How to deal with online abuse
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Ignore
The best way to deal with online abuse is to ignore it. The vast majority of abuse is from individuals seeking attention, publicity or reactions. By ignoring it, you are denying the attention being sought. If you do engage with the content and respond and it gets worse then do not continue the online interaction.
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Correct
If someone is spreading rumours or incorrect information about your company, research or farm, one technique is to highlight the facts whilst not directly responding to the abuse. For example, share a fact from your farm practice or your research.
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Report
You can report any aggressive or upsetting behaviour to the social media platform. Block users so they cannot view or post on your social media account.
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Delete
If you allow comments on your blog or your YouTube channel, you can delete or remove any inappropriate comments.