Hidden behind the anonymity of a pseudonym, online predators feel safe on social media. They infiltrate posts and private messages, hurling obscenities with impunity. Women who are victims are no longer content with simply reporting this behavior, which is punishable by law. Some plaster their profile pictures all over the internet, while @ladame.dencre is conducting a veritable investigation to find the mother of her harassers and expose them to their loved ones.
A detective job to teach cyberstalkers a lesson
For sex offenders who blend in with ordinary people in real life, social media is an ideal hunting ground. It's among the pixels that they stalk their prey and lay traps. In the darkness of a hushed room, while their family sleeps peacefully or their children play on the other side, they scour Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat in search of women to defile, insult, and torment.
These hungry predators, feeling immune behind their computer screens, commit crimes punishable by severe penalties, never fearing the consequences. According to UNESCO data, 58% of girls and young women have already been victims of online harassment. Content creator @ ladame.dencre , whose posts mainly revolve around tattoos, experiences this daily.
Rape threats, vile comments, sexist remarks, a macabre sexual proposition… These offensive messages piled up in her inbox. She could have simply blocked these disguised criminals and played it cool, but she decided to go further. She dragged her haters, not to the police, but confronted them with other authority figures: their mothers.
Contrary to what one might think, she didn't have too much trouble finding their contact information. Her detractors take no precautions and openly break the rules. In a video, she describes her modus operandi and mentions the "textbook case" of Florian, a father in his forties. This man, whose profile picture reveals the identity of his young daughter, may not have faced legal repercussions, but he has plummeted in the esteem of his closest relatives. And that, surely, is the worst punishment of all.
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Neither in denial nor in defense, the mothers offer apologies
In this video, which takes the form of a shocking testimony, @ladame.dencre shares Florian's initial message, and it's anything but courteous. His paragraph consists of a torrent of gratuitous insults. In just thirty minutes, the young woman managed to contact her mother and sister. Far from lecturing them about how to raise this man, she lays out the facts, presents evidence with screenshots, and reveals the true face of the man they thought they knew so well.
The mother didn't take her son's side, nor did she try to minimize his actions or shift the blame. Understanding, even perhaps more sorry than the perpetrator himself, she spontaneously stepped in and assured @ladame.dencre that she would be uncompromising with her son. Who better than a mother to remind a man of basic manners and respect? So, at almost 40, this Florian, who thought he'd get away with it, was given a dressing-down like a six-year-old by the pillar of the household—that person you're careful never to disappoint. The effect was immediate, as the accused apologized to the content creator and admitted his wrongdoing.
A method that raises questions about the fight against cyberbullying
While some online vigilantes outsmart the roughly 2.5 million pedophiles on the internet by posing as innocent minors, content creator @ladame.dencre also takes matters into her own hands to punish predators. She gives them no quarter and leaves their fate to their own families, who then feel they have failed at some point. The goal isn't to blame the mother or send the problem back to the perpetrator, but simply to appeal to emotions. It's almost a last resort.
While most cyberbullying complaints are dismissed and gather dust in drawers, @ladame.dencre chooses public exposure, exploiting the emotional pain. And each crackdown proves remarkably effective. This unprecedented response to cyberbullying resonates like an SOS, a cry for help, an illustration of widespread weariness.
In 90% of these kinds of stories, Instagram turns a deaf ear and remains passive. This was the conclusion of a large-scale study conducted by the Center for Countering Digital Hate. However, there's no question of letting these criminals with their demonic impulses believe they're safe. Content creators, in their own way, are trying to bring down these predators, who think they own the internet. Whether by pinning their faces like fugitives on corkboards in police stations, speaking out, or even selling them out to their families.
Since the advent of social media, women have been subjected to symptomatic misogyny and have been prime targets of unjustified hatred. While they were long taught that ignorance was the best response, now they are defending themselves, with tact and intelligence.
