‘Hate pages’ on social media proliferate among youth
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Social media is a part of daily routine for most, from Facebook to Instagram to TikTok. And as much as people insist on logging off or “touching grass”, it’s often inextricable from real life—especially when it comes to cyberbullying. Hate pages, which are becoming increasingly more of an issue, pose numerous challenges for parents, school administrators and the kids who are affected.
“Hate pages” are a kind of cyberbullying tactic that have gained traction online. They are anonymous pages that focus on spreading hate about a target, posting images, videos or text that harass or demean them. The anonymity means that sometimes, multiple people are responsible for posting on the page.
On video platforms like TikTok, they may have disparaging sounds or audio as well. Posts are usually pulled from the target’s social media page, but whoever is posting on the page may also secretly record or photograph the target to post.
These pages are infrequently the only place where a person may be bullied—the harassment often continues into school or extracurricular activities. It also comes with hypervigilance from the target, who may worry about being photographed or recorded without their consent.
One parent reached out to the Tribune to share her and her child’s experiences anonymously. “As a parent, I’m seeing people talk about their kid experiencing bullying or physical violence daily. And I’m seeing dozens and dozens of these pages about different students,” she said.
From middle school into high school, her child dealt with this anonymous cyberbullying, along with harassment at school and extracurriculars. “You feel absolutely helpless as a parent, and you hope other parents would be empathetic. But there was a lot of anger for sure,” said the parent. “Seeing all the shares and comments, who follows the page—how are you supposed to stomach that? There’s no escaping it.”
“I felt just really isolated and had a lot of self-image issues,” said the child. “I didn’t know what to do. I still don’t know what to do.”
While the parent and child went to the dean of students at the middle school (who was recently replaced by a new dean), she said, “We were basically told it wasn’t the middle school’s problem.”
Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD) states in their board policy regulation 5131.2 that cyberbullying is counted under their bullying policy, and that the superintendent or other designee shall implement measures to prevent bullying in district schools.
“Social media posts and cyberbullying are very challenging because it often happens outside of school,” said superintendent Todd Cutler. “But when it’s brought to campus, we take it very seriously because it’s about student safety.”
Cutler said that one of their ways of combatting this was implementing a no phones policy during class, which also is meant to reduce distractions during class. But the primary way they handle bullying is through an investigation process. “We ask for specificity in the report and it’s no different than any other investigation,” said Cutler. “But there has to be verification before disciplinary action.”
But it can be difficult to get proof. “For us, these were known bullies. They were harassing my kid in real life too. But they’re making fake accounts to make these pages. And then it feels like victim blaming from the school when they’re drilling the person who has the hate page made about them,” said the parent.
Social media platforms often wipe their hands clean of these issues as well. The parent said that she tried reporting a page on TikTok multiple times, only to receive emails saying they found no evidence of cyberbullying. “These companies don’t experience the hurt child,” she said.
The kid’s friends also tried to report these pages and attempted to take them down. But because it’s easy to repost deleted content, they worried about how long it would stay down.
And after consistent harassment, the pages began to veer into targeting her child’s sexuality.
Bullying doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and marginalized identities are often targeted. And it’s because of legal conditions protecting these identities that the parent said this case was taken more seriously.
“It was a hate crime,” said the parent. “The high school and their dean of students was able to take action because it went in that direction. And these bullies finally took it more seriously because of that. But if we hadn’t had those bullies’ names and they hadn’t heard the legal ramifications, that page would still be up.”
She went on to say that because there was legal precedent, it was possible for the school resource officer to petition TikTok for an IP or name release—but otherwise, there aren’t clear ways to find out who is behind a page.
For immediate actions for a student being targeted, the recommendations are:
- Report the incident to a relevant authority, such as the school’s dean of students. If you have further details or know who may be involved with the page, provide them for the investigation. If needed, file a formal complaint at the district.
- Document the page if possible. If you are the target of the hate page, get the help of someone you trust to document it rather than reading through it.
- Report the page to the social media platform for cyberbullying and include documentation if possible. Depending on the nature of the page, you can also report it for nonconsensual use of likeness or impersonation.
- Set your social media profiles to private or archive them until the incident is handled.
But further ways to change the culture are needed. “I have a wish that there will be a better job of teaching kids that this harassment is not okay,” said the parent. “No child deserves this isolation.”
And there are legal consequences to cyberbullying. Cyberstalking and harassment can result in fines or even imprisonment if taken to court, and social media platforms can be held liable for failing to take reasonable measures against hosting hateful content.
The parent advocated for other parents to be the first line of teaching kids that bullying should not be acceptable. “It’s not always going to be at the school, and we can’t blame them for things that aren’t happening on campus, I understand that. But we as parents need to be setting an example and showing how to behave. Otherwise, the problem will keep going.”
Cutler agreed that community response was needed for addressing this issue comprehensively. “Bullying and harassment happens among adults too—it’s not just kids. And kids can see that on social media, the way that adults are behaving online.”
“It’s nothing new, but the way it’s happening is different now. It’s more and more complex with technology,” said Cutler. He added that the school will continue to commit to student safety, bullying prevention and creating a positive culture.
If bullying is negatively impacting your mental health, you’re not alone. If you need emotional support, you can call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis hotline for free, confidential support.
