Cyber bullying, alleged schoolyard fight pages emerge on Sunshine Coast social media

Dozens of social media pages have emerged encouraging users to send in photos and fight videos of Queensland school children so they can be publicly bullied, in a worrying rise of cyber-bullying.

Multiple pages have emerged on social media encouraging cyber-bullying and alleged school fights on the Sunshine Coast.

Instagram and TikTok are awash with accounts encouraging users to submit pictures of school-aged kids, asking for “flops”, in a fad showing a rise in online harassment.

In pages viewed by this publication, more than 20 accounts can be seen on a simple Instagram search under similar monikers.

On these pages, their biographies or descriptions often say “give us some requests”, “don’t report”, “send in flops”, “send through” and “stays anonymous”.

A search of one account, more than 50 Instagram stories in a folder named “shame” can be seen, with derogatory captions placed on the vanishing photos, including “pedo” and “lez”.

Many of these pages have hundreds of followers, and have posted as recently as last week.

Searches on TikTok reveal similar results, with more than 20 accounts found with matching names who have hundreds of followers.

Teenagers allegedly fighting on school grounds on the Sunshine Coast. Picture: Instagram

On one account, which has since been removed from Instagram, extended fights can be seen at Mountain Creek State High School, where two boy students allegedly come to blows for almost a minute, with other children watching on and filming.

Another video shows two children, posted this year, fighting in toilets.

Sunshine Coast University senior lecturer Rachael Sharman said sadly this type of behaviour was prevalent in this day and age.

“Imagine all the things you’ve done at school are permanently recorded and blasted out everywhere, it can put people in a very difficult position,” Dr Sharman said.

Screenshots of one page posting the caption “pedo” on a submitted selfie. Picture: Instagram

“Particularly teenagers, they don’t have a great sense of perspective … they tend to catastrophise.

“They tend to think [the posts] are more terrible and damaging than they are, it’s a real risk for a lot of teenagers.”

The senior lecturer said fight videos which were promoted online were often the product of a teenager’s impulse and their lack of ability to “forecast forward” to see the consequences.

“They do things on an impulse, that’s been the teenage brain for the last 200,000 years,” Dr Sharman said.

“The thing is, once the genie’s out of the bottle, it’s impossible to stuff it back in.

“[Teenagers] are vulnerable to these types of things, it could happen to an adult and they could say to ‘bugger off’, however children get wrapped up in it and ruminate.

“Bullying is an old problem and has never gone away, but the platforms and methods that are being used are changing so rapidly, it’s tricky for people to catch up.”

A Department of Education spokesman said all Queensland state schools hold the safety of students and staff as their highest priority.

“The department is aware of unacceptable videos circulating online involving students from Mountain Creek State High School,” the spokesman said.

“Incidents of this nature are a serious concern for schools, families and the broader community and are treated very seriously.

“Schools apply appropriate consequences to students in line with the school’s student code of conduct.

“This includes consequences for students found to be involved in filming or sharing video of the incident.”

Another screen grab of cyber bullying on social medial. Picture: Instagram

The spokesman said no further details of disciplinary actions involving the students in the fight video could be provided due to student privacy reasons, however guidance officer support was available.

He said it was important for families to work with schools to help adolescents safely engage with technology and navigate peer conflict.

“The department has a dedicated team which assists schools to prevent and respond to negative or harmful online behaviour,” she said.

“The team provides expert advice for school leaders and staff, on reporting harmful content through social media platform tools, as well as working with stakeholders to remove extreme content where possible.”

The pages come amid reports this year where a Sunshine Coast father alleged his son was mercilessly attacked four times at Nambour State College, leading him to be homeschooled.

Analysis of hundreds of public secondary school suspension and exclusion data revealed earlier this year revealed some of South-East Queensland’s worst-behaved students, with one of the state’s top principals saying the youth crime crisis was spilling into the class rooms.

The latest Queensland Education data also showed exclusions across Queensland had reached a five-year high with experts saying schools had seen an “increase” in physical aggression.

This confronting footage is not a recent phenomenon, with an underground “fight club” culture infiltrating Queensland schools, including on the Sunshine Coast, in 2022.