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…
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