Keyword filters flag the wrong thing. In a widely cited study of hate-speech detection, lexicon-based flags were right only about 5% of the time (Davidson et al. 2017). Bullying is a behavior, so watch the behavior.
The four signals (look for them together)
- Repetition. The same target, again and again (Olweus; CDC uniform definitions).
- Power imbalance. A bigger account, gatekeeper or crowd against one creator.
- Dogpiling. Many accounts piling into one thread.
- Coordinated timing. Bursts of near-identical replies within minutes, a known marker of coordinated behavior (Pacheco et al. 2021; Meta policy).
One signal alone is usually just disagreement. Criticism and satire are not bullying.
What to do
- Use Instagram’s quiet tools: Hidden Words, Limits and Restrict (Instagram Help).
- Write for the bystanders. Counter-speech mostly shapes the audience’s norms, not the attacker’s mind.
- Learn the tactics before they hit you. “Prebunking” builds resistance (Roozenbeek et al. 2022).
- Don’t go it alone. Build a small peer circle that checks in, documents patterns and reports together.
Unpopular opinion: Most “cancel” waves are not bullying. The real bullying is quieter, repeated and coordinated, which is exactly why keyword filters miss it.
Lillith Magic · Directed by Anthony Perlas.
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