The insurer has now started offering this additional optional coverage to its homeowners customers.
Chubb has now started to offer an additional cyberbullying insurance policy option to customers who already have homeowners coverage through the insurer, with the hopes of providing added protection against many forms of digital cruelty and humiliation.
The purpose of the coverage is to cover the cost of repairing an online reputation and of counseling.
While it can be very embarrassing for people who have discovered that someone else has posted embarrassing photos on social media accounts or who have been digitally attacked with wave upon wave of hateful messages, a significant reputational and emotional cost can result. Some of this cost can actually be measured in dollars and it is in those areas that the cyberbullying insurance policy has been designed to help. It is meant to help to pay for rebuilding an online reputation, legal fees that are involved and even counseling to help to overcome the trauma that has been experienced.
Research shows there is no shortage of people who could benefit from an cyberbullying insurance policy.
A study conducted by Pew Research Center in 2014 indicated that a tremendous proportion of adult internet users are currently trying to cope with some form of cyber bullying or another. In fact, that firm’s estimates were that up to 40 percent of adults online were dealing with that issue. The new coverage from Chubb has been worked into the Family Protection policy it was already selling. That coverage typically comes with an annual premium of about $70.
The Family Protection coverage provides compensation of up to $60,000 for policyholders and their families who have needed to pay for services such as psychological counseling, who have been forced to lose part or all of their salary and will even provide financial support in more extreme cases such as if public relations assistance is required.
According to the Chubb personal risk services vice president of client product and services, Christie Alderman, who discussed the new cyberbullying insurance policy, “It’s so hard to have complete control online.” She added that “We do know that when it does occur it can be really devastating.”
