Reporting to social media platforms
On most social media platforms it is against their community guidelines (platform rules) to share adult sexual content without consent, bully and harass other users and impersonate profiles, these types of behaviours would be considered as a violation. You are able to report violations via the platform where the violation has been made.
Here are our top tips when reporting to social media
Saving messages and keeping screenshots is incredibly helpful when gathering information, and giving context to harassment and other harmful content. Unfortunately, some platforms are unable to access private messages even when you report them. Therefore, saving those screenshots can be extremely useful, and often help in content being removed quickly after being published.
For this reason, whenever you see it, record it. Find out how to take a screenshot here.
If you can, we would also recommend taking note of the time, date, location (URL) and if you know the platform administrator, save that information too. This sort of context can allow us, and other services, to advise you properly.
To ensure that social media platforms are providing a safe environment for users, each platform has created its own set of Community Guidelines. These guidelines are in effect, a set of rules that promote both a safe and acceptable standard of behaviour across social media sites. They tend to cover advice on what is prohibited on their platform, and behaviours that can lead to accounts being suspended or permanently deleted.
When reporting to social media it is useful to understand if the platforms Community Guidelines have been breached, not only to support your case, but the consequences of breaking these guidelines can result in the suspension and/or permanent deletion of an account.
You can find further information on the Community Guidelines across various social media platforms here.
Most social media platforms have their own reporting tool and it’s fairly easy to use. If in doubt, you can click here to see how to report to a specific social media channel
On many platforms, your initial report may not be viewed by a human but by a computer, this is why it is very important to select the correct report. For example, reporting impersonation will trigger a different algorithm than abuse, so we always advise people to have a look at the report form you use and check it’s adequate for the issue you identified.
Platforms that don’t have a reporting tool as obvious as Facebook or TikTok may need a bit of research to contact the page administrators. Usually, you can find an email address on their contact page, or at the top or bottom of the page. Plus, sometimes at the bottom of the page, you will see their terms and conditions in which it’s frequent to find their ‘reporting abuse’ email.
Dealing with harmful content online is often disturbing. This is why we believe that after reporting, it is fundamental to look inwards and take care of ourselves.