BULI SIBER: KETIDAKSANTUNAN BAHASA DAN ETIKA MEDIA SOSIAL DALAM KALANGAN REMAJA MALAYSIA.

Internet harassment, also known as cyberbullying, is a form of verbal harassment aimed at harassing, humiliating or threatening a victim using negative words or the spreading of false information and fake materials such as images or videos that will tarnish a victim's self-image. Cyberbullying is a global problem that has negative impacts, especially among teenagers, who are the main users of social media. The present paper aims to discuss how impoliteness strategies in virtual conversation can lead to cyberbullying. The article begins with discussions of previous cyberbullying incidents that have gained international coverage around the world. In addition, the paper also discusses a study that looked into the impoliteness strategies among Malaysian youngsters when interacting on Facebook. A series of interviews and observations were conducted involving a group of Malaysian youngsters. With a corpus of 324, 362 words gathered from naturally occurring conversation on Facebook engaged by 120 participants in a 12-month period, the entire data were quantitatively analysed using Content Analysis as well as the theory of Impoliteness offered by Culpeper (1996). The results of the study indicated a common practice of impoliteness communication strategies among youngsters in Malaysia. The summary of previous international cases, along with the discussions of the research findings have provided an overview cyberbullying scenario among youngsters in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]