Cyberbullying on Social Media: What You Need to Know

As we gradually transition into a mostly digital world, some behaviors that occur only in real life are beginning to enter the virtual world. Cyberbullying is one such behavior that has crept into social media and has caused devastating effects on victims.

About 41% of US adults who use the internet have personally experienced online harassment.^[1]Cyberbullying Statistics in 2023 (with Charts): 37 “Key” Facts published by FirstSiteGuide.com

Adiel Boyd, a 12-year-old Australian girl, was relentlessly cyberbullied on social media, leading to her suicide on December 29, 2024.

In 2024, cyberbullying also contributed to the suicides of 12-year-old Charlotte O’Brien and 13-year-old Atreyu McCann. Investigative reports of these incidents uncovered accounts that shared non-consensual explicit photos, full names, and hateful insults targeting these school students, leading to their early self-induced deaths.

This 2025, Star Stone, a New York actress who was edited into a villain role on a viral YouTube video, got mentally distressed following over 200,000 hateful comments across TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, and other platforms, leading her to delete her social media accounts and change her name.

From abusive, mean, or racist comments to the sharing of non-consensual explicit photos, name-calling, and hateful comments, cyberbullying has now become very prevalent on the internet and social media.

Due to its prevalence, we will explore what cyberbullying means, examples, how to spot it, and how to prevent or overcome it.

What is Cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying, also referred to as cyber-harassment or online abuse, refers to any act of willfully and repeatedly inflicting harm or hurt, in the form of visual or auditory abuse, on an individual through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices, often done anonymously over the internet.

It may involve the use of harassing, threatening, or demeaning language often connected with the unsuspecting victim’s appearance, race, sexuality, academic achievement, religion, financial/socio-economic status, etc. Similar to physical bullying, online abuse involves attempts to demean someone or make them feel worthless.

One of the first cyberbullying cases occurred in 2007 when 13-year-old Megan Meier committed suicide after neighbors created a fake Myspace profile to harass her. This led to the enactment of anti-bullying laws in the United States and several other countries. Many countries have also passed laws to restrict underage children and teens from registering and using social media.

However, cyberbullying is something we still experience in different forms and severity to the present day.

Types of Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying occurs in various forms, some of which you may have seen before. If you are wondering what could pass as cyberbullying and what is not, here are some of the most predominant types and examples of cyberbullying today.

1. Mean Comments

Dropping a mean comment is a type of cyberbullying that is very common on the internet nowadays. A recent study by Cyberbullying.org among US Students in 2023 showed that mean comments and online rumor spreading are the most common types of cyberbullying, accounting for 28.7% and 33.2%, respectively.^[2]Ibid. Cyberbullying Stats… FirstSiteGuide.com

If you are a little bit active on social media, you may have seen cases of people dropping extremely toxic comments under a social media post just to get people’s reactions. engagement, or simply to show their dislike for the original poster. While this may often seem harmless, it can cause significant emotional or physical harm to the recipient.

2. Online Rumor Spreading

Online rumor spreading was found to be the most common form of cyberbullying in the 2023 study, accounting for 33.2% of cases. Unlike mean comments, which can target anybody, people with a strong public or social media presence are most targeted in online rumor spreading.

Online rumors can be in the form of a scandal, allegations, fake death news, or other fake news about someone. The perpetrator often allegedly starts and spreads a rumor about someone in the name of sparking a trend, without considering if the victim would be hurt by those claims.

It could also be a ploy to defame someone, for personal gains or retaliation.

3. Unsolicited/Unauthorized Sharing of Private Media

About 25% of US teens reported receiving explicit images or media they didn’t ask for, while 7% reported having explicit images of themselves shared without their consent. Either of these two is a form of cyberbullying because it can affect a person’s mental health significantly.^[3]Ibid. A Majority of Teens Have Experienced Some Form of Cyberbullying | Pew Research Center

4. Body Shaming and Sexual Remarks

A lot of online abuse is connected with appearance, race, or sexuality, making body shaming and sexual remarks some of the commonest forms of cyberbullying today. Up to 61% of US teens who reported being bullied said it was because of their appearance while posting sexual remarks about someone accounted for 12.1% of cyberbullying cases reported.

5. Offensive Name-Calling

Offensive name-calling online or via the cellphone is another form of cyberbullying that teens and young adults experience while using their cell phones and the internet. Some 42% of teens have reported being called offensive names at some point in time. This behavior may become even more problematic when it becomes persistent.

6. Physical Threats

Both teens and adults who use the internet experience cyberbullying at some point. Close to half of US adults (41%) have reported having to deal with cyberbullying, with 27% reporting severe online harassment, including physical threats (18%), sexual harassment (12%), stalking (13%), and sustained harassment (12%).

Concerning stalking, 21% of teens reported that someone other than a parent constantly asked where they were, who they were with, or what they were doing.

More Statistics on Cyberbullying

In addition to the above types and frequency of cyberbullying, particularly in the United States, here are more statistics on cyberbullying.^[4]Cyberbullying Statistics – Enough Is Enough: Cyberbullying

Girls are more likely to be victims and perpetrators of cyberbullying than boys.

• From a study in 2022, 6% of boys compared to 15% of girls reported being bullied online. Some 41% of girls aged 12-17 years reported having experienced some form of online harassment in the survey.
• Personal appearance (61%) was shown to be the most common reason for cyberbullying, followed by intelligence (25%). Racism (17%) and sexual discrimination (15%) are also frequent reasons, as well as mocking someone because of their financial difficulties (15%) and religion (11%).
• A statistics report by Netsanity showed that LGBTQ teens are more likely to experience cyberbullying than heterosexual teens. Over 12% of LGBT teens have been cyberbullied, with 58% experiencing hate speech and 35% receiving online threats.
• A survey report by Comparitech on over 1000 parents of children above years of age showed the following findings on both physical and online bullying among children of different age groups as shown below:
  • 7% of parents with children aged 6-10 reported their children being bullied.
  • 4% of parents with children aged 11-13 reported the same.
  • 9% of parents with children ages 14-18 reported that their children were bullied, and
  • 3% of parents with children ages 19 and older reported bullying/cyberbullying in their children.

• Among the social media platforms, Instagram was said to have the highest proportion of cyberbullying (42%), closely followed by Facebook and Snapchat (37% and 31%, respectively), and fewer cases reported on WhatsApp (12%), YouTube (12%), and Twitter (9%).^[5]Ibid. Enough is Enough: Cyberbullying

A more recent study this 2025 showed that the most common forms of cyberbullying reported by adolescents were mean or hurtful online comments (56%); exclusion (53%); online rumors (53%); embarrassment or humiliation (50%); repeated unwanted contact via text or online (42%); and direct threats through text or direct messages (38%). ^[6]Hinduja, S., Patchin, J.W. Cyberbullying through the lens of trauma: an empirical examination of US youth. BMC Public Health 25, 1709 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-22692-6.

How to Prevent and Protect Against Cyberbullying

Since the 1990s, when cyberbullying started becoming a thing, several laws and interventions have been proposed to prevent and protect against cyberbullying and its downstream effects. These include limiting the age of internet or social media use, establishing cyberbullying laws in all countries, and introducing a feature to manually report or block a user who is doing too much against one’s peace on any social media platform.

While many of these have been implemented in many countries, the rising prevalence of cyberbullying makes it clear that individuals need to do more to protect themselves against cyberbullying and its effects.

In this section, you will see some practical ways to prevent and protect against cyberbullying as you continue to use the internet and social media.

1. Manage your social media privacy settings

Protecting yourself from online abuse requires a great deal of anonymity. You don’t want a potential cyberbully to get hold of your private information because they can use it against you. Thus, strengthening your social media privacy can help protect you against potential cyberbullies.

Today, most, if not all, social networks offer options to control who can see your profile and profile information, or who can view your posts and stories, or react to them. Leverage these features to enhance your social media privacy, particularly if you are vulnerable or at risk of abuse on social media.

Below is an infographic by ExpressVPN on how to strengthen your social media privacy and protect against potential cyberbullies.

2. Don’t respond to bullies

A Twitter (now X) creator and American singer named Tyler the Creator once posted a tweet about cyberbullying that went viral, shown below:

Hahahahahahahaha How The Fuck Is Cyber Bullying Real Hahahaha Nigga Just Walk Away From The Screen Like Nigga Close Your Eyes Haha

— T (@tylerthecreator) December 31, 2012

The above tweet garnered numerous engagements, reactions, and shares because it was very relatable to many people. While many people commented in support of the tweet, a few seemed to disagree that it’s not that easy to walk away from cyberbullying.

But regardless of what the opposing groups think, responding to cyberbullies potentiates it. This is because most cyberbullies thrive on reaction. So, learn to consciously and subconsciously ignore toxic comments, avoid retaliating, and mute or block the person instead.

3. Limit the sharing of personal information

Oversharing personal information like location, school, phone number, daily routine, etc, puts you are a higher risk of being bullied online. Avoid sharing this vital information, as there are bullies who would carefully study these cues to know how to get at you online.

Avoid geotagging every post, and for best practice, tag your location to a social media post only after leaving the place.

Not oversharing personal information also helps prevent identity theft, where a criminal impersonates you to engage in financial crimes or fraudulent activities.

4. Avoid clicking or downloading random links and files

Exercising skepticism towards links and file downloads on social media is crucial to protecting yourself against cyberbullying attacks. By clicking and downloading unsafe files, cybercriminals can install malicious software or viruses that obtain private information from your device or profile, which they can use for online abuse.

Thus, avoid clicking on random links. Inspect the link address if it appears suspicious. And download files from only reputable sites to avoid unknowingly installing malicious software that extracts your sensitive data and personal information for cyberbullies.

5. Use the report and block features

Almost all social media platforms, if not all, have a report abuse and block user feature. In accordance with cyberbullying laws, these features were introduced so people can protect themselves from online abuse.

Report offensive content or harassment and block repeat offenders so they can’t view your content or contact you on the platform again.

The procedure is similar across various platforms like Instagram, X, Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp. Click on the three-dot icon on the user’s profile and select the report, block, or report and block options. If necessary, take a screenshot of the evidence before blocking for future reference.

6. Be mindful of what you post online

Once shared online, information can be hard or even impossible to fully take back. So, you should be very careful with what you share on any social media platform.

While a lot of us innocently post sensitive pictures, videos, or text, these can be used against you by a cyberbully who means to hurt your peace of mind or online reputation.

Sensitive content can be twisted or misused. A lot of cyberbullying victims have reported having their media shared without their express permission. Thus, you should be mindful of what you share on social media.

If it helps, avoid posting when you are emotional or upset, as these kinds of content often attract bullies.

7. Report to the authorities

Familiarize yourself with the cyberbullying laws and report to the authorities when necessary. Sometimes, some cyberbullies can find ways to get at you even after blocking them on social media.

Reporting to the authorities and law enforcement agencies will ensure your safety and peace of mind. As a good practice, take screenshots of the conversations to present as evidence when necessary.

8. Talk to someone you trust

Dealing with cyberbullying can be very challenging, particularly if the bully is non-relenting in their actions. It can deeply affect one’s mental health, and thus, may require you to talk to someone you trust.

Don’t die in silence; talk to a friend, parent, counselor, or trusted adult. Don’t isolate yourself; rather, seek professional help if you are feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or depressed by cyberbullying.

9. Take a break from social media

When the effects of cyberbullying feel too much to bear, it might be time to take a break. Temporarily log out and deactivate your social media account for some time.

Use mental health apps or mindfulness tools to recharge, and when you eventually return, put boundaries in place while observing the precautionary measures discussed above.

10. Support others being bullied

Protecting yourself against cyberbullying is great, but protecting our community is even greater. Being a bystander in silence empowers the bully, while being a supporter empowers the victim.

By showing support to other people within our social space when they are abused on the internet, we create a safer space for ourselves and everyone–a space where cyberbullies cannot thrive.

If you witness or notice someone being harassed, speak up or report the abuse if it violates community guidelines. Message the victim privately to show your support.

Final words

Cyberbullying is a real threat that has overwhelming consequences, from depression to self-harm and even suicide. Online abuse can potentially make social media unsafe for internet users, which is why protecting against it is something we should all be knowledgeable about.

The above tips could help protect you from online bullies. Protect your privacy, report abusers, etc. Whether as a victim, bystander, or supporter, we can make online spaces safer for everyone if we take the right steps.