Alicia O'Sullivan forms Safety Over Stigma

29 Apr 2021

Quercus Active Citizenship Scholar, Alicia O'Sullivan, has formed a campaign group called Safety Over Stigma to help people whose identities are stolen and used to set up fake profiles on social media. 

The aim of the group is to lobby for training for Gardaí on how to respond to victms of online abuse; to lobby social media companies to take more responsibility for what people can post online; to educate people about their online rights and Coco's Law and; to educate people about their online behaviour.

Alicia was herself a victim of identity theft and a significant factor in Alicia's formation of Safety Over Stigma was the lack of empathy she received from the Gardaí whom she reported the crime to. The campaign has already become a driving force for change as the Minister for Justice has confirmed a national rollout of empathy training for all Gardaí across the country. 

Thank you Alicia!