Filmmaker Biodun Stephen Tackles Cyberbullies Aver Alleged Samsung Phone Gift

Biodun Stephen

Nigerian filmmaker, Biodun Stephen, has expressed frustration over what she described as cyberbullying after some social media users accused her of being ungrateful to Samsung.

Stephen, in a video shared on her Instagram page on Thursday, said the controversy started after she made a video appealing to Samsung to give her its latest foldable smartphone.

According to the filmmaker, she had shown some of her old Samsung phones in the video but never promised to give them out to anyone.

She said she was therefore surprised when she began receiving messages from social media users accusing her of being selfish and ungrateful.

“A couple of weeks ago, when Samsung was launching their fold phones, I made a video asking Samsung to please give me the Fold 8. I showed some of my old Samsung phones.

“At no point in that video did I say I would dash anybody my phone. Those phones are not all working, and the one that is working, aside from my normal phone, is for my other line," she said.

The filmmaker said some individuals subsequently sent her messages claiming that Samsung had already given her a phone.

She said one of the messages particularly angered her, as the sender allegedly called her ungrateful. She added that she had initially ignored the messages because she did not want to respond to the issue.

“I got messages from somebody I don’t know saying that I’m so ungrateful because Samsung has given me a phone.

“Samsung has not given me any phone. If they give me, I will come on this platform and say thank you.”

She also questioned why she was being attacked simply because social media users had tagged Samsung under her post.

The filmmaker described the development as cyberbullying and urged social media users to be more mindful of how they use their platforms.

“I just don’t understand this cyberbullying. I get it, but are you so bored that you need to infect me with your own misery?

“You need to see the messages I got last week, calling me unprintable names. Samsung said they gave me a phone? Did they say they gave me a phone? They haven’t given me the phone.”

Stephen maintained that she had never told anyone that she would give out her old devices and wondered why she was being labelled selfish, wicked and ungrateful.

She further cautioned social media users against taking online interactions too far, stressing that people should not abuse the access social media gives them to other people's personal spaces.

“Let’s not take for levity the access we have on this platform and just come to people’s DMs and talk nonsense,” she added.