Instagram has a new program for school officials to report bullying

Instagram is adding another tool to its arsenal of anti-bullying measures. This time, however, Meta is enlisting school officials directly in an effort to speed up its response to safety issues affecting young teens. The company is introducing a new “Schools Partnership Program” that aims to give teachers and school administrators a way to intervene when students experience bullying on Instagram.

The program offers schools something that many parents have long said they wanted: a way to fast-track in-app reports that directly affect young students. Meta is promising that schools who join the program will have their reports “prioritized” in its moderation queue, and that it will respond to these reports within 48 hours. Schools that sign up will also get a “school partner” badge appended to their Instagram account, along with in-app information about how to use its reporting tools and other resources.

Notably though, it doesn’t sound like Meta is hiring additional content moderators to aid with these new fast-tracked reports. When asked about increasing headcount to support the program, an Instagram spokesperson told Engadget only that reports from schools will be “expedited” via its existing reporting channels, and that schools will be able to add "additional context" to their reports.

Meta says it’s already tested the program with 60 schools and that early results have been “promising.” Now, middle schools and high schools in the United States can sign up to join a waitlist for the program.

The pilot program is far from the first time Instagram has tried to address bullying. The app introduced comment limiting features in 2021, and added a tougher "restrict" feature last year. But while these features can help teens avoid certain types of negative interactions, they still required teens (or their parents) to tweak their settings. By now giving schools more authority to report specific instances of bullying or other bad behavior, Meta is offering some hope that it will be easier for schools to address the underlying behavior.

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