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Protection de la vie privée

When in Doubt, Talk It Out

Report it online, too

Using a home device to demonstrate where to go to report inappropriate content and behavior in apps, you and your children consider various types of content, decides whether to report it, and talks about why or why not.

Goals

Be aware of online tools for reporting abuse.

Consider when to use them.

Talk about why and when to report the abuse.

Let's talk

When meanness and other inappropriate content turn up online, people have options for taking action. In the last activity we talked about the most important one: talking it out with someone you trust. Another option is to report it to the app or service where you found it, which can help get the content deleted. It’s important to get used to using online reporting tools.

Children should get in the habit of taking a screenshot of conversations or activity that’s harmful or suspicious before using blocking and reporting tools (which could make a record of the activity inaccessible). This ensures that trusted adults can see what happened and help resolve this situation.

Activity

Materials needed
  • Handout: “Report it online, too!” worksheet

Figure out how to report a problem

Grab as many devices as your home has access to. Together, find the tools in at least three home-related accounts for reporting inappropriate content or behavior.

Go through the scenarios

Go through the seven situations on the worksheet.

Would you report it?

Ask children to say if they would report the content; then ask them to say if they wouldn’t report it.

If so, why?

There is not just one right answer or approach. Make sure children know this before discussion begins.

Worksheet

Make your children read each scenario below and ask them if they would report it in the app or service where they found it. Let’s them Prepare to explain why they would or wouldn’t report it and explain why they chose that option, then discuss those choices.

Note
There is not one right choice to make, which is why discussion is helpful.
No one should feel bad about what they chose to do. Even adults don’t always know when or how to report.

Situation

A student posts a group photo in a public account, and you hate the way you look in it. Would you report that photo or not? How can you respond?

Situation

Someone creates an account of a student you know using their name and photo. They turned the photo into a meme and drew a moustache and other weird facial features on it, turning the photo into a joke. Would you report the account or not?

Situation

Someone posts lots of mean comments about a student in your school without using their name, but you have a feeling you know who it is. Would you report those comments or not?

Situation

A student creates an account with your school’s name in the screen name and posts students’ photos with comments that everybody hears about. Some of the comments are mean to students; some are compliments. Do you report the mean comments, the whole account, or both?

Situation

One night, you notice that a student has made a comment online saying they’re going to fight with another student in the lunchroom the next day. Do you report that comment online or not? Do you report it to a teacher or principal the next morning or not? Or both?

Situation

You’re watching a cartoon video and all of a sudden there’s some weird content in it that’s definitely not appropriate for kids and makes you feel uncomfortable. Do you report it or not?

Situation

You’re playing an online game with friends and someone none of the players know starts chatting with you. They’re not being mean or anything, but you don’t know them. Do you ignore them or report them?

Takeaway

Most apps and services have tools for reporting and/or blocking inappropriate content, and it can help the people involved, their community, and the platforms themselves if we use those tools. Before blocking or reporting inappropriate content, it’s always wise to take a screenshot so that you have a record of the situation.

Vocabulary 

Courageous

Brave; not necessarily fearless, though, because people are especially brave when they’re scared or nervous but take positive action anyway.

Compromised account

An online account that has been taken over by someone else so that you no longer have complete control of it.

Student agency

A step beyond a student using their voice to speak up, student agency is the capacity to act or make change; including protecting or standing up for oneself and others; often seen as a necessary part of citizenship.

Trust

Strong belief that something or someone is reliable, truthful, or able.