What to do if you see something upsetting

Speak to an adult you can confide in about what you’ve seen. It could be a family member, teacher or youth worker, for example. They might be able to help clear things up and sort out your concerns.

If you stumbled across something online by accident, that adult may have some tips for how to avoid seeing that upsetting thing in the future. They can also help you find the report button on a site.

If you don’t have anyone you can speak to at home or school, there are services you can call, email or chat to online here.

These services are there to listen and help you with what to do next. They won’t try to stop you from going online, and you won’t be in trouble if you found the worrying content on a site you’re not old enough to go on.

If you’ve seen something online that makes you feel uncomfortable or that upsets you, it’s important to report it where you can.

If it’s on social media, you can find our list of where to do this here.

Reporting content won’t mean you can’t access the site in future, but it will alert the platform that this content is something to take a bigger look at. It will also help you stop seeing content like it again.

If you see something on a website that you’re really worried about, there are a few places you can report this to if you want to take matters further. You can find them listed on the Safer Internet Centre’s website, here.

Try to talk to an adult you can trust about what you've seen, so that they can help you to report it.

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