AUSTRALIA IN FOCUS

Likes, Shares, and Lies: When Social Media Becomes a Weapon

We’ve all been the target of a tasteless joke — the hushed laughter, the whispers, the sting of cruel words. Now imagine it amplified by a thousand, shared across screens and never fading. This is the harsh reality of cyberbullying today.

It began innocently enough.

A group of students at a secondary school in Australia created TikTok videos impersonating their teachers and classmates. Some were lighthearted. Others took a darker turn.

From a Prank to a Personal Attack

Fake profiles emerged, masquerading as the school, its staff, and its students, spreading misinformation and targeting individuals with vicious mockery. Appearance, accents, even sexual orientation became targets of online ridicule.

At first, the victims tried to brush it off. It’s just a joke, right? But what happens online never stays online. And soon, the damage became impossible to ignore.

The impersonations escalated; students and teachers found their names linked to cruel rumors, fake posts, and fabricated images.

• A teacher discovered a fake account using their name to post inappropriate comments.
• A student’s private messages were leaked and dissected for public amusement.
• Students and staff were subjected to false narratives and harmful rumors spread through fake social media accounts.

And the worst part? The audience wasn’t limited to just the school. These posts were being shared, liked, and commented on by strangers who had never met the victims but felt entitled to laugh at their expense.

What began as a digital masquerade had turned into a never-ending campaign of psychological warfare.

What Happens Online Never Stays Online

The school quickly realized that cyberbullying doesn’t stop at the screen, it follows victims into their daily lives.

• Students who had once been outspoken in class now walked with their heads down, avoiding eye contact.
• A teacher who had once been enthusiastic about their work started second-guessing their every word, afraid it would become the next viral joke.
• Some students stopped attending school altogether, overwhelmed by the anxiety of what might be posted next.

“Just a joke” had become a source of crippling anxiety, eroding self-esteem and, in some cases, leading to depression.

In the most tragic cases, cyberbullying doesn’t just steal confidence, it steals lives. There have been cases around the world where relentless online harassment has pushed victims toward self-harm and even suicide.

The psychological toll is real, and the consequences can be irreversible.

The Breaking Point: When the School Became the Target

As chaos grew, the school itself became a victim. Fake websites designed to look like the school’s official page began appearing, tricking parents and students into giving away personal information. Imposter accounts spread false updates, making it impossible to tell what was real and what wasn’t.

By the time the school stepped in, the damage was already done. Social media platforms were slow to take down fake accounts, traditional reporting mechanisms were ineffective. The internet had turned into a battlefield, and the school was on the loser’s end.

Taking Back Control

The school needed a way to fight back proactively, not just reactively. That’s when it turned to Darkivore.

While cyberbullying thrives in the shadows behind fake names and anonymous accounts, Darkivore is designed to unmask digital threats, detect impersonation attempts, and dismantle malicious campaigns at their core.

It immediately tracked down the fake accounts and one by one, they vanished. The fraudulent websites were also taken down in full. While Darkivore couldn’t erase the damage that had been already done, it stopped the nightmare from escalating any further.

With so many of their posts removed, the abusers went silent and their efforts faded as their platforms disappeared.

For the first time in weeks, the victims felt a sense of relief. They were simply not helpless anymore!

The Lasting Scars of Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying isn’t just words on a screen. It’s a calculated assault, designed to humiliate, isolate, and shatter the victim’s sense of self.

Some students never regained the confidence they lost. Some teachers chose to leave the school rather than continue working in an environment where their identity had been publicly ridiculed. And for some victims, trust, both in their peers and in the safety of the internet, was shattered permanently.

The Hard Truth: The Internet Doesn’t Forget, But It Can Be Controlled

This school’s experience is not unique. Across the globe, abusers hide behind the digital curtain of anonymity, attacking others with impunity.

The internet doesn’t forget. A cruel post can live on for years. A fake account can destroy a reputation in hours. And a single act of cyberbullying can change someone’s life forever.

But there is hope. Darkivore’s ability to detect and dismantle digital threats proved that technology can be a powerful ally in this fight.

For this particular school, the worst may be over. But for many other entities and individuals, the next wave of cyberbullying is just a click away.

The future is being shaped online. If we don’t intervene now, we’ll be forced to reckon with the very real consequences later.

Stay Vigilant, Stay Informed.

Written by Fouad Bou Doumit & Wassim Renno