Anti-Bullying Rapid Review data shows 62 per cent of Australian students experienced online harassment in past year
Guardii Analysis
New data released alongside the Anti-Bullying Rapid Review reveals that 62 per cent of Australian secondary students reported experiencing some form of online harassment in the past 12 months, with 18 per cent describing the abuse as sustained or severe. The figures, drawn from a survey of 12,000 students conducted between February and May 2026, show that image-based abuse and coordinated group harassment have overtaken one-to-one name-calling as the most common forms of cyberbullying, and that fewer than one in three students who experienced serious online abuse reported it to a teacher or parent. The findings are informing updates to the National Framework and the Let's Stop Bullying campaign.
The gap between harm prevalence and reporting rates reflects structural barriers to disclosure, including fear of device confiscation, social stigma and doubt that adults can intervene effectively in private digital spaces. Detection systems that surface a child in crisis without requiring self-disclosure address that gap directly. A Meta Business Partner, Guardii identifies sustained targeting, escalation and coercion in children's direct messages in real time, reporting the seriousness of a conversation to a parent, school or professional rather than creating a surveillance feed, with modules for cyberbullying, grooming, sextortion, CSAM and athlete abuse. The platform surfaces students experiencing the patterns described in the review data, enabling intervention before abuse intensifies and without waiting for a child to navigate the decision to report.