How Social Media and AI Changed Bullying

Technology has enabled a new breed of bullying, and it’s nastier than ever.

In 1972, when I was 10, Franky Leper busted my handmade go-cart into pieces, then shoved me into the mud.

Leper was in his teens, then — a big, fat, man-sized kid — and I stood no chance.

But my older sister, Kris — then 5 feet tall and 90 pounds — was so angry at what she saw that she tackled him to the pavement and pounded on him with her fists until he blubbered like a baby.

Everyone was so shocked by his beating that his bullying career ended that day.

Throughout millennia, bullies have typically been larger kids who invoked fear in everyone else.

Psychologist Dan Olweus found that traditional bullies usually weren’t insecure kids with low self-esteem. They were kids who liked power, enjoyed being in control and bullied for the simple reason that they enjoyed how it made them feel.

The only way to get them to leave you alone, generally, was to win their respect by fighting back — or having an older sibling do so.

Today, however, the bully doesn’t need size to invoke fear — all he or she needs is an iPhone.

According to CNN, 14-year-old Adriana Kuch was beaten in a New Jersey school hallway. Classmates filmed it and posted the video online. Her father said the relentless comments and continuous bullying broke her. Two days later, she committed suicide in her home.

In Louisiana, reports the Associated Press, a 13-year-old girl became the target of relentless teasing after classmates circulated AI-generated nude images of her. She and other girls begged school officials for help, but adults initially doubted the images even existed. When she caught a boy showing them on a school bus, she attacked him. The school expelled the girl who had been humiliated, only later to be reinstated once the truth finally came out.

In Peters Township, Pennsylvania, reports CBS Pittsburgh, an 18-year-old senior — the class president — was charged with sextorting at least 21 boys, ages 14 to 17. Police say he posed as a girl online, lured them into sending explicit images, then threatened to expose them if they didn’t pay or do what he demanded — such as film other boys in the locker room and, in two cases, have sex with older men.

Terrified and alone, these kids do not know what to do or where to turn.

To be sure, bullying victims have it way worse today.

First, they cannot escape the torment — even in the safety of their own homes. Today’s bullying victims carry the torment around in their pockets — on their smartphones. They’re humiliated by bullies in front of many others online — and they have no escape.

“When bullying goes online, that safe refuge is lost,” reports WebWatcher. “The bullies enter the home via computers, tablets and cellphones. Even if a child chooses to disengage by turning off their internet-connected devices, the bullies can continue sending harassing messages. The next time the child turns on their devices, the attacks are there waiting for them.”

Second, a new class of bully has emerged. Leper used his size to physically bully younger, weaker kids, but the contemporary bully need not be physically dominating. All he or she needs is a mean streak, a smartphone and access to AI apps.

Hiding behind a computer screen, contemporary bullies can demonstrate levels of inhumanity and cruelty that they might not be capable of if they were looking a victim in the eyes.

Third, today’s bullying victims are increasingly isolated. The torment they carry around may affect their grades, their sleep and their health. Fortunately, we all can do something to help them, thanks to the PACER National Bullying Prevention Center.

Founded in 2006, PACER, Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights, established its National Bullying Prevention Center to help ensure all children are safe and supported in their schools, communities and online.

In the ’70s, the solution to a bully was often to stand up to him. Today, bullying can follow a child home, spread across an entire school in minutes and linger online indefinitely. AI deepfakes and other digital tools have made the problem even more complicated.

PACER offers practical advice: save screenshots and messages, tell a trusted adult, report abusive content to schools and online platforms, block perpetrators and refuse to share or encourage humiliating material. Bystanders can help by supporting victims and helping them get adult assistance.

When children bully others, PACER urges parents and educators to intervene, help them understand the harm they cause and teach kindness and respect. Changing a young bully’s behavior takes time, but ignoring it only allows the damage to continue.

But today, saving a child from a bully does not require a physical fight — it takes logging on, stepping up, monitoring the devices and refusing to let digital cruelty go viral.

Maybe if someone had helped Franky Leper become kinder back in 1972, his teen years wouldn’t have been ruined with my sister’s right hook.