Online bullying

Online bullying or ‘cyberbullying’ includes a range of abusive behaviour that is  

• Repeated
• Intended to hurt someone emotionally

For example, a one-off negative or insensitive comment or disagreement, though potentially upsetting, would not be considered bullying. Abusive behaviour repeated by the same person against another it would be considered bullying.

Forms of online bullying might include:

• Writing targeted threatening, upsetting or abusive comments about another learner on FutureLearn or external platforms
• Creating and sharing targeted embarrassing or malicious images or videos about a learner on other platforms
• Starting a comment thread or setting up hate sites or groups (outside FutureLearn) about a particular learner
• Encouraging another learner to self-harm
• Impersonating, hijacking or stealing a FutureLearn profile or accounts on other services to embarrass another learner or cause trouble using their name

Bullying behaviour of any kind is against FutureLearn’s Code of Conduct, which all users agree to when registering with FutureLearn.

If it happens to you or you notice it happening to someone else on FutureLearn

• Do not retaliate or reply
• Report the content to our moderators by pressing the flag button. The person who wrote the content won’t be told who reported it and they won’t know it has been reported unless the content is removed
• Content that breaks our Code of Conduct will be hidden or deleted

If the bully is someone you already know

For example, they might be someone else at your school...

After doing the above, 

• Take screenshots of the behaviour
• Report it to your teacher or another adult you trust at school

If you aren’t comfortable doing that, email [e-mail] and we will contact your school on your behalf.

If it happens outside of FutureLearn

And you think the bully is someone you know from a FutureLearn course...

• Do not retaliate or reply
• Take screenshots of the behaviour
• Email [e-mail] with evidence of the behaviour and a link to the person’s FutureLearn profile (e.g. https://www.futurelearn.com/profiles/XXXXXXXX)

If it happened on a social media or messaging app, report the behaviour on the app too.

You should also review the privacy settings on your FutureLearn profile and social media apps. See our Child Safety page for some tips.

What happens next

If there is evidence to show that a learner you met on FutureLearn has been bullying you on another service, we will suspend their FutureLearn account so they can no longer sign in to the site..

If there isn’t documented evidence, we will still take your accusation seriously, but we won’t suspend the FutureLearn account of the ‘bully’. Instead we will help you to block this person from seeing your FutureLearn activity and improve the privacy settings of your FutureLearn account.

If you are being bullied by someone who doesn’t use FutureLearn

If you are in the UK and under 18, please contact Childline for help.

If you are over 18, you should consider contacting your local police. You may find this advice from the National Bullying Helpline useful.

Stalking

If you are worried that another learner is someone who has stalked you either in person or elsewhere on the internet, please copy the person’s profile URL (e.g. https://www.futurelearn.com/profiles/XXXXXXXX) and email it to [e-mail] and we will explain the measures we can take to help protect your privacy.