There are loads of fantastic websites and apps where you can play and chat with other people online.
It’s important that places online where people spend time together are safe and fun for everyone. This means everyone needs to follow the rules and be respectful to others.
Luckily if something goes wrong online, there’s always something you can do about it. Check out this video from BBC Own It to find out more.
It’s really important that if anything online worries, upsets or confuses you, you speak to an adult you trust for help and support. Once you’ve done this you may also be able to use the report button.
Learn more about reporting
The report button is a really useful tool, which you can find on lots of different games and apps. It is a way of telling someone that you’ve seen or heard something upsetting.
Look out for these symbols:
You can report different things and for different reasons. For example:
- A player or user who has done something wrong.
- A post which doesn’t follow the site rules or is upsetting.
- A comment on a post – for example, if someone is being unkind or bullying.
All of the information in your report will be sent off to the safety team of the site or app you are using.
The content you’ve reported will be looked at to decide if it breaks the site rules.
If your report shows someone has broken the rules, the safety team can take action like:
- Deleting upsetting posts or comments.
- Giving users a warning about their behaviour.
- Suspending users accounts for a short amount of time.
- Removing users from the platform entirely.
If it doesn’t, this should be explained to you and you may be given some other advice on what to do next.
Top Tips
- Make sure you report the right thing – user, game, post or comment
- Be specific and provide evidence – explain what happened and attach screenshots if you can
- Remember reporting is anonymous. The person who has been reported will never be told who reported them.
- Always talk to an adult you trust when you make a report, so that they can support you too!
As part of our work in the UK Safer Internet Centre