What to do if you're being cyberbullied

What to do if you’re targeted by a cyberbully

Break off contact

• Do not respond to or forward any cyberbullying posts or messages. Responding won't solve the problem and it might make it worse.
• Block the cyberbully on social media and from your contacts for text and phone. Move email messages to your 'Junk' folder. If you don't know how to block a sender from your phone, call or ask someone to call your cell phone service provider.

Protect yourself

• Only share your passwords with adults that you trust.
• Learn to use the privacy settings and reporting features on your social media accounts.
• Keep personal information like your date of birth, where you live, schedule and contact information private.
• Be very careful which images and videos you share online, because a cyberbully may use them against you.
• If you have already shared an image or video you would like to have removed, visit NeedHelpNow.ca for steps to get it off the internet.
• If someone hacked into your profile, change your password. If you keep getting messages like 'add me to your friends or contacts list', change your username and email address.
• If someone created a profile of you without you knowing, contact the people who run that site and have it removed.

Get help

• Remember you are not alone. Tell someone you trust what happened, whether that's a parent, a teacher or a friend.
• If you have no one to talk to, you don't have to go through it alone. Talk, text or chat with someone at Kids Help Phone.

Report the cyberbully

• If you feel physically threatened or if a crime was committed, call the police immediately.
• Keep any cyberbullying texts or emails, or screenshot any social media posts. You may want to have a record of the incident in case you ever need to prove what happened.
• Report the incident to the social media site it happened on. They have policies against abuse, and whoever violates those policies will likely get notified and prevented from using that site.