By Michaela Gordoni
Instagram is working with schools to battle cyberbullying through its new School Partnership Program.
“We’re trying to work with schools because often schools will have context that we don’t,” said Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram and dad of three. “They’ll know that a specific post or specific account is actually harassing a kid when we can’t.”
The program is developed with the International Society for Technology in Education and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. It’s in its pilot program, which is open to any middle and high school in the U.S.
It’s been tested in 60 schools already, with positive results. Schools can sign up through Instagram settings under “Account type and tools” or “Business tools and controls.”
Related: Instagram’s New Update is a Victory for Teen Safety
The program includes educational resources for schools. It allows school to have high priority when the platform investigates the report. Accounts will have an official Instagram partner banner on their profile.
“Within the first week of partnering with Instagram, we saw bullying and harassing posts and profiles taken down,” said D.J. Ashford, Studio Art and Media Teacher, LEA Representative, Muwekma Ohlone Middle School. “Their prioritizing of verified school accounts and speedy response supports schools in reducing student anxiety and increasing student safety. They’re also focused on prevention, with lots of resources for students and families to support a safe social media experience.”
Only 13% of youth report being cyberbullied to their school because they feel educators can’t do anything about it.
“You’re not calling someone a bad name or being overtly aggressive, but you’re doing something much more subtle—something that just looks totally benign to us, but is actually very targeted,” Mosseri says. “One of the important opportunities in terms of working with schools, particularly teachers, guidance counselors, and parents, is they’ll often have that context, and they can report some of that.”
Instagram is facing some criticism for the rollout, as some claim it’s another way for the app to deflect responsibility.
“Meta must take full responsibility for safeguarding children on its platforms, rather than outsourcing that duty to already overstretched schools and educators,” said Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate. “Schools are places for education, not moderating the worst excesses of social media.”
Dr. Emily Oster says parents should create a safe space at home for their kids so that they can feel comfortable sharing with their parents if they are being bullied.
She said, “Rather than [focusing on] how you can make this stop happening, which unfortunately is probably out of your control and maybe out of theirs as well, it’s thinking about, ‘What can we do to make this bother you less?'”
It’s too soon to say whether Instagram is deflecting responsibility or taking genuine steps to protect kids. It did implement Teen Accounts last year, which has offered kids more protection on the app.
Read Next: Instagram to Launch ‘Nudity Protection’ Feature to Protect Teens
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