Cyber Safety: Tips to Protect Yourself Against Cyberbullying
09/04/24
But the starting point of defense against cyberbullying could be you.
Take proactive steps such as speaking out against bullies, seeking support from trusted adults, or raising awareness about the issue. Additionally, educating people about what cyberbullying entails is essential. It's also crucial to emphasize the importance of screenshotting or taking pictures of the evidence in case the perpetrator deletes it, and remember that cyberbullying can happen anywhere online, as some online activities are hard to categorize
What is cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying is bullying with the use of digital technologies. It can take place on social media, messaging platforms, gaming platforms and mobile phones. It is repeated behaviour, aimed at scaring, angering or shaming those who are targeted. Examples include:
spreading lies about or posting embarrassing photos or videos of someone on social media
sending hurtful, abusive or threatening messages, images or videos via messaging platforms
impersonating someone and sending mean messages to others on their behalf or through fake accounts.
Face-to-face bullying and cyberbullying can often happen alongside each other. But cyberbullying leaves a digital footprint – a record that can prove useful and provide evidence to help stop the abuse.
If you suspect you're being bullied, the initial step is to seek assistance from a trusted individual, such as your parents, a close family member, or another reliable adult.
In a school setting, you can confide in a counselor, sports coach, or your favorite teacher, either in person or through online communication.
If confiding in someone familiar feels uncomfortable, consider seeking support from a professional counselor through a helpline available in your country: Bullying & Cyberbullying Helpline UK (findahelpline.com)
If the bullying occurs on a social media platform, consider blocking the perpetrator and officially reporting their behavior directly on the platform. Social media companies have a responsibility to ensure user safety.
To halt bullying, it must first be recognized, and reporting it is crucial. It can be beneficial to gather evidence, such as text messages and screenshots of social media posts, to illustrate the situation.
Reporting bullying not only aids in halting the behavior but also communicates to the perpetrator that their actions are unacceptable.
If you are in immediate danger, contact the police or emergency services in your country without delay.
Tips on how to protect yourself and others on Social Media
Each social media platform offers various tools that enable users to control who can interact with their posts and report instances of bullying. Many of these tools are user-friendly and include simple steps to block, mute, or report cyberbullying. We encourage you to familiarize yourself with the following options:
Here are some safety tools anyone on Facebook/Instagram can use:
You can block people, including any existing and new accounts they might create.
You can mute an account and that account will not be notified.
You can limit unwanted interactions for a period of time by automatically hiding comments and message requests from people who don’t follow you, or who only recently followed you.
You can use ‘Restrict’ to discreetly protect your account without that person being notified.
You can moderate comments on your own posts.
You can modify your settings so that only people you follow can send you a direct message.
We will notify someone when they’re about to post something that might cross the line, encouraging them to reconsider.
We automatically filter out comments and message requests that don’t go against our Community Guidelines but may be considered inappropriate or offensive. You can also create your own custom list of emojis, words or phrases that you don’t want to see.
For more tips and ideas, visit Instagram’s Safety page and Facebook’s Bullying Prevention Hub. We also offer resources, insights and expert guidance for parents and guardians on our Family Center.
Snapchat
Here are some safety tools anyone on Snapchat can use:
Clicking on the person’s avatar will bring up a three-dot menu in the upper right-hand corner. Opening that menu offers the option of “Manage Friendship,” which, in turn, offers the ability to Report, Block or Remove the person as a friend. Know that if you block someone, they will be told that their Snaps and Chats to you will be delivered once the relationship is restored.
It’s also a good idea to check privacy settings to ensure they continue to be set to the default setting of “Friends Only.” This way, only people you’ve added as Friends can send you Snaps and Chats.
We also recommend reviewing your Friends’ list from time to time to ensure it includes those people you still want to be friends with on Snapchat.
TikTok
Here are some safety tools anyone on TikTok can use:
You can restrict who comments on your videos to no one, just friends or everyone (for those aged under 16, the everyone setting is not available)
You can filter all comments or those with specific keywords that you choose. By default, spam and offensive comments are hidden from users when we detect them.
You can delete or report multiple comments at once, and you can block accounts that post bullying or other negative comments in bulk too, up to 100 at a time.
A comment prompt asks people to reconsider posting a comment that may be inappropriate or unkind, reminding them of our Community Guidelines and allowing them to edit their comments before sharing
X
Here are some safety tools anyone on X can use:
Select who can reply to your posts – either everyone, only people you follow or only people you mention
Mute – removing an account's posts from your timeline without unfollowing or blocking that account
Block – restricting specific accounts from contacting you, seeing your posts, and following you
Report – filing a report about abusive behaviour
Safety mode – a feature that temporarily blocks accounts for using potentially harmful language or sending repetitive and uninvited replies or mentions.
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