Class War investigation: Schoolkids uploading vicious school fight videos on social media

Students in Aussie schools are filming violent assaults and sharing footage on social media profiles dedicated to violence in classrooms. See the shocking videos.

The Daily Telegraph's Class War investigation launches today.

Vicious schoolyard bashings are being recorded and posted to Instagram profiles dedicated to inciting a growing school fight club craze across Australia.

Disturbing footage, obtained as part of The Daily Telegraph’s Class War investigation, n uncovered hundreds of Instagram profiles showing children being assaulted in classrooms, school playgrounds, hallways and bathrooms, while others film the encounters for fans on social media.

Former teacher and cyber psychologist Jocelyn Brewer told The Daily Telegraph the violent videos – generating thousands of likes and comments – were a desperate bid for notoriety.

“Kids want to see their friends, who have established alpha personalities, fighting online,” she said.

Violent incidents of schoolyard violence have erupted on social media.

“These aggressors that we see in these violent schoolyard fights are benefiting from popularity and getting gratification from the fact that these assaults are being filmed and engaged with online – so their reaction is to continue these acts of violence.

“Meanwhile, adolescent audiences are hungry for content, and the footage they resonate with is violent videos that can be shared from the school playground.”

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CLASS WAR: ‘BASHED, FILMED & POSTED ONLINE’: TEEN TELLS OF BATHROOM HORROR

Hundreds of school fight accounts encourage students to upload footage of school scraps and tell followers not to report the activity.

Meta has come under fire for being too slow in proactively identifying harmful content and remove it.

Despite clear violations of Instagram’s community guidelines, which prohibit graphic violence, abuse and bullying, many of the profiles remained public on Instagram for years.

Two girls are filmed fighting at a central west school.

Incidents of schoolyard violence are being shared online.

Australian eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, has the power to compel online service providers to remove seriously harmful content within 24 hours.

She said eSafety had received reports relating to school fight videos and had acted quickly to remove them.

“For children who have unwillingly appeared in videos like these, the knowledge other people have seen them being physically attacked can be deeply distressing and humiliating, adding to the trauma of the initial assault,” she said.

Australian eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant pictured in their office in Sydney. Picture: Jonathan Ng

A Meta spokesman said it did not tolerate “bullying and harassment or content that glorifies violence on Instagram”.

“We strongly encourage everyone to report this kind of content using our reporting tools,” he said.

He said Meta had reviewed all school fight profiles identified by The Daily Telegraph and had “taken action against all of them for violating our policies”.

The company also said it had removed more than 6.6 million pieces of content relating to bullying and harassment from Instagram.