4.4.4 Social Media Rules and Terms of Use

Even though not all cases of cyberbullying can be considered criminal acts and although not every case needs to be reported to the police, cyberbullying should be reported to the platforms used to carry out the abuse.

Most social media providers have clear rules and terms of use deeming cyberbullying as unacceptable and a violation of terms of use. Most social media also have easy, anonymous reporting systems. For most social networking sites, the general reporting address is: [email protected]

Social media tend to take reports of cyberbullying and other forms of online abuse very seriously. In most cases, the site will take down the offending content and sometimes ban the bully from using the site. They also have resources to track activities, restore deleted content and identify the bully, although this information might not be available unless specifically requested by authorities.

The key step is to teach young people to be aware that social media they use have rules about acceptable online behaviour and terms of use that need to be followed. Not complying with these rules can have consequences. Cyberbullying is not acceptable online behaviour, and if they see it, they should report it right away. The site will take down the content and they can feel good knowing that they took assertive action to help stop cyberbullying.