The bullying of young people online and in text messages has become considerably worse in recent years according to the UK’s media watchdog.
An Ofcom report found that the proportion of 12 to 15-year-olds who said they have been bullied over text messages and apps increased from only 2% in 2016 to 9% last year. The amount of those bullied on social media almost doubled from 6% in 2016 to 11% in 2018. The research suggested many young people felt the need to use multiple social media profiles set to be visible to different groups of people to project different images to each social group.
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The report said: “Children posted different content on these profiles depending on who they allowed to see each profile; more visible accounts tended to be more highly curated, showing a ‘picture-perfect’ self, while less visible accounts tended to be used to show their ‘real self’ to more carefully controlled circles of close friends,” the report said. “In this way, while some may feel pressure to look attractive or popular on social media, children are finding strategies to still be themselves, at least some of the time.”
Ofcom said children were/are experiencing increasing levels of bullying through services such as WhatsApp and were exposed to more “nasty” material online. WhatsApp is for 16-year-olds and over however a third of 12 to 15-year-olds using social media are using Whatsapp. Proportions are low but their is debate over the role of social media firms in protecting young people online. This comes after questions about the case of 14-year-old Molly Russell who took her own life in 2017. After her death her account on Instagram was found containing material about depression and suicide.
The increase of social media sites, online activity and messaging apps, cyberbullying is on the increase. Most of the apps and social networking sites are for people aged 13 and over. They also state that bullying, abusive behaviour which is harassment, impersonation and identity theft was not allowed however, 91% of people who reported bullying said no action was taken.
Facebook have a set of community standards that they stick to and it states that they will not tolerate:
- Pages that identify and shame private individuals,
- Images altered to degrade private individuals,
- Photos or videos of physical bullying posted to shame the victim,
- Sharing personal information to blackmail or harass people and
- Repeatedly targeting other people with unwanted friend requests or messages.
