Brussels: Victims of cyberbullying will soon be able to ask the Telecommunications Ombudsman's Office for the identity of anonymous perpetrators, announced Rob Beenders, Federal Minister for Consumer Protection.

According to Emirates News Agency, last year, the Telecommunications Ombudsman Service received thousands of complaints about online bullying, occurring through platforms like WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and Snapchat. These incidents often involve severe offences such as death threats, intimidation, or stalking, frequently perpetrated by anonymous individuals.

Currently, victims of offences committed over the phone or via text messages can request information about their perpetrators through the Ombudsman using the telephone number. However, this legislation has not previously extended to online bullying.

Minister Beenders, alongside Vanessa Matz, his colleague for Digitalisation, is amending the law to enable the Ombudsman's Office to uncover the identity and address of anonymous perpetrators on social media. With this information, victims can approach the police, pursue legal action, or directly contact the perpetrator. Operators and other relevant entities will be mandated to cooperate with the investigation; failing to do so could result in fines from the telecom regulator BIPT.

Despite this legislative advancement, experts express skepticism about its practical implementation and raise concerns about potential vigilantism.

According to Belgian News Agency (Belga), a significant challenge is whether companies truly know their users' identities, as IP addresses can be easily masked using services like VPNs. Furthermore, even if the identities behind the offensive messages are known, there is skepticism about whether social media companies would willingly disclose such information.