Taking a decisive step to counter bullying of children in the cyber world, Social Media Giant Facebook and Time Warner have joined forces to increase awareness and encourage people to report abuses, reported the Associated Press on Tuesday.
The partnership sealed on Tuesday recognizes the fact that Facebook with a participation of more than 750 million users is not only a platform for friendship but is also, unfortunately, an outlet for harassment.
The harassment, ranging from a person’s sexual orientation to their fashion tastes, can lead to emotional problems, drug abuse and, in extreme instances, suicide.
Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook believes that by working together with parents and teachers young people can be taught to speak up against bullying.
Time Warner woke up to the bullying problem last year when it made “Stop Bullying: Speak Up’ a them of its Cartoon Network.
Now, the anti-bullying campaign is being extended to Time Warner’s CNN and three of its magazines – People, Time and Sports Illustrated. CNN’s Anderson Cooper will host a town hall focused on bullying in October while the magazines will all delve into the topic during the same month.
Facebook plans to release a new application, before school reopens later this summer, that will broadcast a user’s pledge to stop bullies.
Facebook’s initiative towards this cause commenced four months back, while as part of a White House Conference held by President Barack Obama on the topic, it introduced a feature to make it easy to report online bullies or ‘cyber’ bullies.
The White House estimates that 13 million students, or nearly one-third of the school-age population in the US, are targets of bullying. In a 2009 survey by The Associated Press and MTV, half of the people from 14 to 24 years said they had been cyberbullied.
Other media outlets catering to young people have also adopted anti-bullying stances. For example, Viacom Inc.’s Nickelodeon television network unveiled a public service campaign advising its target audience of children aged 2 to 14 on how to counter taunting texts, emails and Facebook posts.