Frequently Asked Questions

Launched in December 2018, Report Harmful Content is a national reporting centre designed to assist everyone in reporting harmful content online. We aim to:

1. Provide information on the community guidelines of commonly used social networking sites
2. Give advice on how to report problems to social media, gaming and dating platforms.
3. Provide assistance in reviewing reports of harmful content from platforms.

Report Harmful Content is based at South West Grid for Learning (SWGfL), an online safety charity and the lead partner in the UK Safer Internet Centre. At SWGfL, we work in collaboration with Childnet International and the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF). We have years of experience in dealing with online safety concerns and online harms, gained through running two Helplines: the Professionals Online Safety Helpline (POSH) and the Revenge Porn Helpline.

Our specialist advice and support draws upon these partnerships and experiences, and makes use of the excellent working relationships that we have established with industry.

If you have come across suspected harmful content online, it can be difficult to navigate how this can be reported to the platform. Report Harmful Content can help you navigate how to report this correctly to the platform. 

Our advice section contains information about the different types of harmful content you might find online, and the pathways of how you can report this to the 25 platforms we work with, across the social media, dating and gaming industry. 

If you have already submitted a harmful content report to social media and have received an unsatisfactory reply (e.g. the harmful content has not been removed or addressed), we might be able to further assist you by reviewing your report. 

We are unable to take reports of sexual images of under 18s. You can report sexual images of under 18s online directly to the Internet Watch Foundation. If you see something online that supports, directs or glorifies terrorism, we recommend that you report it to Action Counters Terrorism.

In simple terms, harmful content is anything online which causes a person distress or harm. This encompasses a huge amount of content and can be very subjective depending on who is doing the viewing; what may be harmful to one person might not be considered an issue by someone else.

When making a report to Report Harmful Content you will be directed to our reporting wizard. So that we can help you quickly and efficiently, please provide as much detail as possible in the ‘supporting information’ section of the wizard. This might include detail such as the nature of the harm, who it is directed at, who the perpetrator is, whether you known the perpetrator, when you submitted your report to social media, what the outcome was and other ‘bigger picture’ details (e.g. whether this online harm is part of a broader pattern of harassment or abuse). Make sure to also provide a URL of the harmful content and to upload the response you have received from social media (ideally as a screenshot).

At Report Harmful Content we deal with a wide range of online harms, some of which might be considered illegal. If you are being threatened, harassed or blackmailed online, we recommend that you report to the police. If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, please contact the police on their 999 emergency number. Further details including a list of relevent laws can be found on our When should I go to the Police page.

Millions of individuals use social media to connect with friends and family and share experiences. In order to ensure that social media remains a safe and respectful environment for everyone, most social media platforms have community guidelines. These are a set of rules which outline what is expected of you as a social media user, including how you should treat other users and what behaviour is and is not tolerated. Report Harmful Content offers advice and support on content and behaviour that breaches the community guidelines of commonly used social media platforms.

If you can’t see the platform where the harmful content is located on our review page, this may be because we don’t yet have a partnership with this service. It might also be because there are other issues involved with reporting to certain platforms. Please find information on how to report to other independent sites here. 

Report Harmful Content can assist all adults and young people between the ages of 13-18 with reporting harmful content online. Under new GDPR regulations we are unable to accept information from children under the age of 13. If you are under 13 and need our help to review reports of harmful content online, please ask your parent or guardian to complete our reporting form on your behalf.

If you have concerns about your child’s social media use (e.g. staying safe, monitoring behaviour) you can find help and tips on our advice for parents’ section.

Unfortunately, we are unable to assist with removing harmful content related to criminal investigations. This is to ensure that the investigation is not affected in anyway. If you have concerns about harmful content related to your investigation, speak to a police officer or victim support.