You cannot control what others post on social media, but you can inform the platform of what they are doing. Most platforms work in a reactive way, they take down posts in response to reports from other users rather than going out and checking the posts themselves. You can help to reduce the amount of hate material on the internet by reporting it to the platform.

   If you are in Australia or the material is being posted from Australia, you can also report content through online forms to the eSafety commissioner, https://www.esafety.gov.au/ The site has extensive information on what sort of material they can accept reports on, where you can go to report material if it is outside the scope of what they can act on, and educational material on dealing with threats, hate speech and other potentially dangerous material online. They can also accept complaints about social media platforms not acting correctly on reports of hate speech and other threats online.

   Finally, if the hate speech or other threats are targeted at you in a way that makes you concerned for your personal safety, you should contact your local police.

Reporting posts on YouTube

Hate speech or abuse in any content on YouTube can be reported. Exactly how to report depends on what device you are using to view it and what the nature of the content is. Usually, there is a row of three dots near the content that expands out into a larger menu when clicked which will contain a report flag.

Details on exactly how to find the report flag for different content are here, https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2802027

You can look at the progress and results of any reports you have submitted, https://www.youtube.com/reporthistory

Reporting posts on Facebook

   Every post and image on Facebook will have a Report menu item available. Exactly how to find it will depend on which device you are using to access Facebook. For example, the desktop web browser version has three dots that expand out a menu with Report Post near the bottom.

   Comments also have a similar menu available with a Report Comment option.

   More details on how to find and use the report option are here, https://www.facebook.com/help/212722115425932/?helpref=uf_share

   Further information on how to report items, what sort of items Meta considers to breach their terms of service, and what Meta will do when an item is reported are here, https://www.facebook.com/help/263149623790594/

   Sometimes Meta does not consider an item to be sufficiently hostile to be removed. In such cases you may be better just blocking that material from your own personal feed. If this is content you believe that Meta will not remove, you can take steps to not see it again in future. https://www.facebook.com/help/408955225828742/?helpref=uf_share

Reporting posts on Instagram

   Posts, reels and stories on Instagram will have a three dot menu for interacting with that post. One of the options visible is report. Follow the prompts from there to fill in a report on why this post is hate speech. Your name will not be shared with the account you are reporting unless you report the post as a copyright violation.

   Comments may need you to hover over the offending item to get the menu dots to appear. More information on how to report items and what Instagram will do with your report is available here, https://help.instagram.com/2922067214679225/

Reporting posts on X / Twitter

   Comments on X will have a three dot menu in the top right corner which shows a menu of ways to interact with that post. One of the options is to report that post to X. There are also options for blocking or muting the user if the content isn’t something X will remove.

Further information on how to report posts and other media on X, and how X will handle the report, is here, https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/x-report-violation

   Reporting is not the only way to deal with content you do not want to engage with. Blocking an account will restrict the ways that you can interact with that user, while muting will make comments from that user invisible to you without notifying them of this. For further information on what the options can do, look here, https://help.twitter.com/en/safety-and-security/control-your-x-experience

Other platforms

Report options are usually placed near the bottom of a menu that allows you to interact with a piece of content. Look near like or share buttons for a row of dots, or a hamburger menu that brings up additional menu items. You may have to hover your mouse over the content or tap it to make the menu option visible.