The Corona era increased contacts related to social media and bullying to the Riders’ Association. Hate videos about 15-year-old pony rider Veera Kangasjärvi were published until the internet police intervened.
When the first hate video appeared on TikTok at the beginning of March, at the age of 15 Veera Kangasjärvi mostly laughed.
An unknown user had taken a screen recording of the riding video of Kangasjärvi’s own TikTok account. The video contained nasty comments about Kangasjärvi’s horse riding. He immediately told his mother about it Sari to Kangasjärvi. Together, they decided to ignore the video.
However, more videos came, and TikTok’s algorithm showed more and more of them. Hate videos gathered tens of thousands of views.
“The situation started to get sad. I started to think, am I really such a bad rider”, recalls Veera Kangasjärvi.
He and his mother asked acquaintances to report the account, but more hate accounts came when the previous ones were closed.
The number of contacts related to social media and bullying has increased significantly in the Riders’ Association in recent years. The developer of the equestrian association’s stable operations Minna Peltonen the feeling is that the corona period added problems.
“The changes in society can be seen in horse riding. When the lives of children and young people went digital for a couple of years, it was also reflected in riding and social media.”
In particular, riding schools ask the association for advice on how to work with social media. They need instructions, for example, for filming in stables and social media bullying.
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“The internet police said it wasn’t about me. The bully was probably just jealous.”
Veera Kangasjärvi and Kalle-pony practiced dressage in Korpilahti in Jyväskylä.
Veera Kangasjärvi has enjoyed riding with her twin sister Pepin with since childhood. There are four own horses, of which two ponies are for competition use by the girls. Veera belongs to the national team training ring with her pony Kalle, or Arvalon Gigalo. Horses are the most important thing in her life.
For three years, the sisters have had an Instagram account, where they post training and competition news daily. Kangasjärvi also has its own TikTok account.
“I haven’t received any hate messages before. We didn’t know how to prepare for that.”
Social media is an important part of riding for young people.
“I like to see how Kalle and I have developed in the publications. We also get a lot of nice congratulatory messages. If, for example, the games have gone well, we get congratulations. It makes me feel good,” says Veera Kangasjärvi.
Riding is a difficult skill that takes years to master. Learning to ride involves making mistakes, but with social media, mistakes can end up being the subject of malicious reposting.
The stables are thinking about how to guarantee peace for children and young people to practice sports without the fear of being the target of social bullying.
In Minna Peltonen’s opinion, simply banning photography is pressing the panic button. He instructs entrepreneurs to approach the issue rather through the atmosphere.
“At the stables, it’s good to discuss what kind of place you want it to be. Do we help and cheer others? How does social media fit into that?”
After a two-day flood of hate videos, Veera Kangasjärvi’s mother contacted the internet police. When the internet police contacted the founder of the accounts, the bullying stopped and the contents disappeared from the service.
“The internet police said it wasn’t about me. The bully was probably just jealous,” says Veera Kangasjärvi.
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“When a rider posts horse-related content, he wants to share his good feelings.”
While at the stable, Veera Kangasjärvi does not post on social media, but she likes to post riding news especially on Instagram every evening.
When Kangasjärvi published an Instagram post about his bullying, he received hundreds of compliments. Unknown, skilled riders sent private messages saying that riding in Kangasjärvi was not ugly.
“It made me feel good.”
Minna Peltonen admits that the horse brings its own addition to cyberbullying.
“There are so many emotions associated with horses that they can be used to hurt others. When a rider posts content related to horses, they want to share their good feelings and are vulnerable. Receiving negative comments and hate speech is especially unpleasant.”
Social there have been so many cases of media bullying in the Riders’ Association that more detailed instructions on social media are being worked on. The instructions deal with, for example, filming, handling cases of bullying and tagging, i.e. tagging a person in the content without permission.
The Equestrian Association does not want to instruct the stables to ban all photography, but reminds us of the rules of the game. For example, a riding lesson or coaching is not counted as a public space where you can photograph freely. Minors may also not be photographed without their guardians’ permission.
“It’s good to ask permission from adults as well, if they want the riding lesson to be filmed even if the material is for their own use. If I went to an aerobics class, I wouldn’t want to be photographed without asking either,” says Minna Peltonen.
Filming is also a security risk. When people know they are being filmed, they become tense. The tension is immediately reflected in the horse. When moving among horses with a mobile phone, the attention is elsewhere than on the horses. Using a cell phone in the saddle is even more dangerous. The Association of Riders, for example, never uses mobile phone footage filmed while riding and does not recommend it to others either.
After the incident, Kangasjärvi has only posted videos on TikTok once. The service sensitively recommends content with hate comments.
“All the most popular horse content on TikTok has a lot of hate comments,” says Kangasjärvi.
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“Even my bully’s parents hardly knew what he was doing.”
Kalle pony’s well-being is everything to Veera Kangasjärvi. “It’s always on the mind. I spend 3–5 hours at the stable on weekdays. Along with school, the horses take up all the time.”
Harassment is facing backwards and there were no traumas. In general, however, Kangasjärvi wants parents to intervene in their children’s activities.
“Parents should monitor what children do on social media. Even my bully’s parents hardly knew what he was doing.”
He wants to tell his story so that others don’t have to go through the same thing. In his case, the bullying ended quickly with the proper intervention of adults.
Minna Peltonen says that in the end there are very easy instructions for the operation of social media.
“Before publishing, you should think about whether you would like to read the comment or see the video about yourself. If the answer is no, don’t publish.”
Peltonen also hopes that adults will think about how they talk in the stables and on social media.
“Young people and children are just practicing behavior patterns, but adults must be able to control their behavior. Hate speech on the internet is not ok.”
Veera Kangasjärvi’s pony Arvalon Gigolo, or Kalle, has been in the family for 7.5 years. Kangasjärvi’s mother Sari rode the pony for the first few years, because the pony was challenging and bucked. “Now Kalle is really lovely, she is a playful and playful pony.”
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