How to Report Abuse on Social Media

We live in divisive times, which is why you should know how to protect yourself on social media. People use these platforms to freely express their ideas and opinions, and some can be deemed controversial, offensive, misleading, or just plain inaccurate. For those reasons, the major social networks all offer options for reporting posts and users for a variety of infractions.

- LANCE WHITNEY

You may find a post insulting, hateful, deceptive, or outright false. You may even suspect an account is a bot. It can feel pointless to report a single post, but when enough people do so, certain social networks have been prompted to label, fact-check, or remove such posts. They may even ban a user for breaking the platform’s terms and conditions.

REPORT FACEBOOK POSTS AND COMMENTS

To report a specific post on Facebook, click the ellipsis icon (three dots) next to that post and select Find support or report post.

From there, you will be asked to specify your issue. You can choose from a number of reasons why you’re reporting the post—Nudity, Violence, Harassment, Suicide or Self-Injury, False News, Spam, Unauthorized Sales, Hate Speech, Terrorism, Incorrect Voting Info, or Something Else. Select the problem that best describes your complaint.

Depending on whether the account is a friend or a public page, you can now opt to block the person, unfollow the person, or hide all posts from the person. Otherwise, click Done.

In some cases, Facebook may ask you to narrow down the specific issue. For example, choosing Violence prompts you for the specific type of violence. Choosing Harassment asks you whether you or a friend is being harassed. Choosing Hate Speech asks whether the issue is based on race or ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, or another reason.

If you choose Something Else, you get further selections, such as Fraud or Scam, Bullying, Hate Speech, Sexual Exploitation, or Sharing Private Images. Select the specific reason and click Next.