Instagram Launched A New Anti-Bullying Tool For Schools. But Will It Work?

Given how Extremely Online today’s teens and preteens are, it’s no surprise that bullying has gone online, too. Teachers often see or hear about troubling content their students have posted on social media: a student alluding to possible suicidal behavior in a post, for instance, or cyberbullying in the comment sections.

Or it could be what a teacher suspects is digital self-harm: Some teens create anonymous online accounts and use them to publicly send hurtful messages or threats to themselves. (A deeply concerning 2022 study found a link between teens engaging in digital self-harm and considering or attempting suicide.)

Outside of taking a screenshot of the post, reporting it to the parent, and talking to the students involved, though, there’s not a lot teachers and school administrations can do about harmful content.

A new anti-bullying feature from Instagram is giving them one more tool to address troubling behavior on social media: Announced earlier this week, the school partnership program gives verified school accounts the ability to expedite the review of posts or accounts they flag for potentially violating Instagram’s rules.

These reports are automatically prioritized for review by Instagram, and the school’s account receives an alert about their status and whether Instagram took action. The partnership program is available to middle schools and high schools in the U.S.

Schools participating get a “school partner” banner on their profiles, so students and parents know about the program:

Instagram also plans to provide resources that help support educators, parents, guardians and students safely navigate Instagram.

The program is part of a larger push from Instagram and its parent company Meta to tighten guardrails for children and teens on the platform, under pressure from U.S. legislators concerned about online safety and bullying.

Nearly half of U.S. teens have been bullied or harassed online, according to a 2022 report from the Pew Research Center, with older teen girls being the most likely to report being targeted by online abuse. (More often than not, it’s looks-based harassment ― tailor-made for a visual platform like Instagram.)

In September, Instagram changed its policy so that teen users are now automatically placed in a new type of account with built-in privacy restrictions that give parents more control. Meta also utilizes artificial intelligence to try to detect users who are lying about their age in its apps.

Stephanie Fredrick, the associate director at the Alberti Center for Bullying Abuse Prevention at the University at Buffalo, thinks Instagram’s school partnership program sounds promising ― but only if the social media platform really does expedite reports from school administrators.

“Students often tell us that reporting [on apps] is not helpful and that nothing happens,” she said. “Moving forward, I do hope that reports from students themselves are taken just as seriously. Students are often the ones that witness these posts, and I’d love to see students feel empowered to report, as well.”

Overall, quick and easy reporting is a vital component to creating safer school environments, she said.

Trayvon, an elementary school teacher and a TikTok education influencer with over 107,000 followers, is excited about the program. (He uses his first name only online to protect his and his students’ privacy.)

“As a teacher, I have experienced several times where a student has told me someone they know made a troubling post, or a student has shown me an inappropriate post on social media, but school administration can really just do as much as others can do,” he said.

Trayvon hopes the moderation tool will be effective in removing inappropriate posts in a timely manner, but he’s still going to stress to his students that they need to watch what they share online because “anything posted on the internet is there forever.”

Fixing the wider problem of online bullying requires early intervention from teachers and parents, said Signe Whitson, the dean of students at a K-8 school in northeastern Massachusetts and the author of “8 Keys to End Bullying: Strategies for Parents & Schools.” Today’s teens and preteens are in desperate need of conversations about how to treat others with respect, both online and offline, she said

“I think it’s easy for many parents and educators today to feel like we can never quite keep up with our kids’ level of digital savvy, but it’s important to remember that we have an edge when it comes to the social, emotional and moral savvy that comes from life experience,” Whitson told HuffPost.

“Ultimately, we all bear responsibility when it comes to teaching kids and keeping them safe online,” she said.