Reporting on Social Media Platforms
The social media below explain their procedures and mechanisms to report hate speech and cyberbulling within most of their user features.
By clicking on the small arrow at the right of each line, you will discover the social media reporting procedures that interest you.
HATE SPEECH
Facebook reporting page about hate speech
In nearly all cases there is a report function next to the post, page or message in the drop down menu which looks like this or this
Example:
If you do not have a Facebook account you can report using the online form.
All reports are reviewed and a response is provided by Facebook. In cases of severe and threatening hate speech or bullying you are advised also to report it to the relevant national bodies.
CYBER BULLYING
Facebook page about event of cyber bullying
In addition, the Bullying Prevention Hub provides tips and resources for teenagers, parents and educators. This is a joint initiative with partners working on bullying. It reaches out to both victims and witnesses who want to help.
COMMUNITY STANDARDS
Facebook community standards page
The community standards describe the grounds on which Facebook may decide to take down content that has been reported. They include:
- Direct threats of harm to public and personal safety
- Bullying and harassment, which is content that appears to purposefully target private individuals with the intention of degrading or shaming them
- Sexual violence of adults and exploitation of children, which is content that threatens or promotes sexual violence or exploitation, including that of minors.
HATE SPEECH
Twitter reporting page about hate speech
Most often the report function is available in the tweet, profile of media content under the dropdown menu with more options pictured as or
Example:
All reports are reviewed and a response is provided by Twitter. In cases of severe and threatening hate speech or bullying you are advised to also report it to the relevant national bodies.
CYBER BULLYING
There are no specific guidelines provided in cases of bullying. Twitter does offer tips to promote safe use of its services, which cover (prevention of) bullying for teenagers, families, parents and educators.
COMMUNITY STANDARDS
Twitter community standards page
Specific policy for dealing with content promoting child sexual exploitation
The Twitter rules provide the ground for taking down content or suspending accounts. This includes abusive behaviour, such as:
- Violent threats (direct or indirect)
- Harassment, which entails inciting or engaging in the targeted abuse or harassment of others
- Hateful conduct, which entails promoting violence against or directly attacking or threatening other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability or disease.
HATE SPEECH
Reporting on Instagram depends on the platform you use:
Web browser (pc/laptop)
App (Application on phone/tablet)
In most cases the report function can be found in the drop down menu with more options, recognisable as
Example:
If you do not have an Instagram account you can report using the online form.
All reports are reviewed and a response is provided by Instagram. In cases of severe and threatening hate speech or bullying you are advised to also report it to the relevant national bodies.
CYBER BULLYING and SAFETY ONLINE
online form to report harassment or cyber bullying
Instagram provides tips on the safe use of its services online, including when supporting friends and for parents.
COMMUNITY STANDARDS
The Instagram community guidelines describe how the company deals with violations of its terms of use. The guidelines call on users to:
- Avoid violating copyrights
- Follow national law
- Show respect for other members of the community or users.
Snapchat
HATE SPEECH, BULLYING AND HARASSMENT
online questionnaire to help users find answers to different types of safety concerns, including experiences of hate speech, bullying and harassment.
In most cases Snapchat recommends:
- Blocking the attacker
- Reviewing your privacy settings
- Reporting the incident to the national law enforcement agencies.
Example:
SAFETY ONLINE and COMMUNITY STANDARDS
The Snapchat safety centre offers safety tips for users and guidelines for parents and educators.
The community guidelines describe behaviour expected of users and call for:
- No nudity or sexual content
- Respect for privacy
- No threats
- No harassment, bullying or spamming.
VKontakte (VK)
In its terms of use, Vkontakte (VK) gives no explanation on how it deals with hate speech or cyber bullying, nor on how to report it.
Users can report hate speech and cyber bullying directly to VK. The report function looks like the example below and can be found next to the post in the right upper-hand corner. After pressing the button the post becomes marked as spam and there is an option for further specifications as to why you consider it to be spam, including:
- abuse
- material for adults only
- drug advocacy
- child pornography
- violence/extremism.
Example:
Depending on the post’s content, (abuse) and (violence/extremism) might be the most relevant possibilities to report hate speech and cyber bullying.
It is possible to report a "community" of users to the VK support service team. Your report should explain how your personal interests are harmed and provide direct links to prove your point.
CYBER BULLYING
To protect yourself against cyber bullying, VK recommends adding the bully to your blacklist. The blacklisted accounts can no longer befriend you, write messages to you or connect to your activities on VK.
Example:
COMMUNITY STANDARDS
The terms of use state that the site administration can, at its own discretion, delete any content or account (Article 7.2.2). Users are prohibited (Article 6.3.4) from uploading, saving, publishing, sharing or using in any other way information that:
- contains threats, discredits, offends, or denigrates the honour, dignity or business reputation of a person or infringes the inviolability of the personal life of other users or a third party
- promotes and/or supports racial, religious and/or ethnic hatred, promotes fascism or racial superiority
- contains extremist materials.