Social media giant has announced the launching of its new  Be Bold, Speak Up anti-bulluying campaign in Australia, with Minister for School Education Peter Garrett attending the launch.

 

“A 2009 Edith Cowan University report on covert bullying gave us a staggering statistic: one in six students are bullied weekly,” Mr Garrett said.

 

“A quarter of students between Year 4 and Year 9 reported being bullied at least once over the few weeks the research was undertaken.”

 

“One in five students has experienced some form of cyber-bullying.

 

“This means every family either has a child, or knows one, who is being bullied at school.

 

“We know that the use of hand-held devices and social media has led to the rise of cyber-bullying.”

 

The campaign will see Facebook launch a Social Pledge App, with signatories signing a public statement saying “I will not be a bully”

 

Facebook currently has over 11 million users in Australia alone.

 

Since the campaign was launched overseas, more than 140,000 people have taken the pledge and over 1 million people in the USA have ‘liked’ the page.

 


You can join the campaign by taking the pledge on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beboldstopbullyingau/app_225649917566630and you can spread the message in your community by liking the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/beboldstopbullyingau