October 27, 2026 · Twitter Ban Service · 12 min read
How to report harassment on Facebook: every report button, the bullying form and a police-ready log
How to report harassment on Facebook depends on where it happened: open the three-dot menu on the profile, post or comment, or tap the sender's name in Messenger, choose Report and pick bullying or harassment. People without an account use Facebook's bullying form. Save links and screenshots first, then block.
Pew Research Center found that 41% of U.S. adults had personally experienced online harassment, and 25% had faced the more severe kinds, such as threats, stalking or sustained abuse (survey of September 2020, published January 13, 2021). On Facebook itself, Meta's integrity report for the first quarter of 2025 put the prevalence of bullying and harassment content at 0.07% to 0.08% of views, up from 0.06% to 0.07% the quarter before. That sounds small until it is all aimed at one person. A Facebook harassment report works best when it is narrow: one item, the right reason, filed by you.
Which Facebook report button fits each kind of harassment?
Report the item that hurt you, not only the person behind it. A reviewer looking at a profile report sees the profile; they do not automatically see the comment thread under your photo or the chat you received last night. Reporting harassment on Facebook therefore means one report per surface, each with the reason that matches it.
| Where it happened | Where the Report option sits | What to pick | Before you report |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profile (fake or real) | Three dots under the cover photo, then Report profile | Bullying, harassment or abuse; impersonation if it copies you | Copy the profile URL, including the number in it |
| Post or photo | Three dots at the top right of the post | Bullying, harassment or abuse | Screenshot with the date and the poster's name visible |
| Comment | Hold the comment on mobile, or the three dots beside it on desktop | Same reason as the post | Report before you hide or delete it on your own post |
| Messenger chat | Tap the person's name at the top of the chat, then the report option under privacy and support | Harassment | Screenshot the chat and note the times |
| Story | Three dots on the Story while it plays | Bullying, harassment or abuse | Act the same day: it expires in 24 hours |
| Page or business page | Three dots under the Page's cover photo, then Report Page | The reason that matches the Page's purpose | Save two or three of its worst posts as separate links |
| Group | Options or the three dots under the cover, then Report group | Bullying or harassment | Report individual posts too; a group report covers the group as a whole |
How to report a Facebook account for harassment, then, is the first row, and it is the right move when the account exists only to target you: a burner profile, a hate page, a copy of your name. For a real person who posts one cruel thing, report the post. Facebook's group reporting help page says the result lands in your Support Inbox, and the same applies to the other rows.
One rule from Meta's Bullying and Harassment policy changes who should file. For some attacks on private adults, Meta requires a self-report, because it needs to know the targeted person actually feels harassed. A friend's report on your behalf can stall there. So when you ask how to report someone on Facebook for harassment and bullying, the honest answer starts with: you file it, from your own account, and friends add their reports on top.
How to report harassment on Facebook Messenger when it arrives in private
Open the conversation, tap the sender's name and use the report option in the privacy and support area; then choose harassment. A Messenger report sends the reviewer the messages in that thread, which a profile report would not include.
Three details matter more than the taps. First, message requests from strangers can be reported straight from the request screen, without accepting them. Second, reporting does not stop new messages on its own; pair it with Restrict or Block (the next sections compare them). Third, if the messages contain a threat to hurt you or a demand for money against intimate images, stop treating it as a Facebook problem first. Call local police, and keep the chat intact rather than deleting it in disgust.
Group chats are the awkward case. Each harassing message is reported from inside the chat, then you leave. Leaving first means losing access to the messages you wanted the reviewer to see.
Is there a Facebook harassment report form for people who can't see the content?
Yes. Facebook's Report Something on Facebook form includes a bullying or harassment option, and it is the route when you have no account, were blocked, or the content is hidden from you. The Help Center article for people without an account points to the same place.
When we went through that Facebook harassment reporting form on October 27, 2026, it asked, in this order: what best describes the problem, whether we had a Facebook account, whether the content was blocked from our view, a separate link for each item, when it was shared, a description naming the person, Page or group, an optional name, an email address and an optional attachment in JPG, GIF, PNG, TIFF or PDF. Two lines on it are worth knowing. The form says Facebook has to be able to find the content to review it, so a vague description with no links goes nowhere. And it says the name you give is used to identify you as the target and is not shared with the person you report.
If you were blocked, the form suggests asking a friend who can still see the content to copy the links for you. That one step is often the difference between a form that gets reviewed and one that closes with no action.
How do you report bullying on a Facebook Page, or harassment aimed at your own business page?
There are two different situations hiding in this question, and they use different tools.
A Page that bullies someone. Here is how to report bullying on Facebook Page content: report the Page from the three dots under its cover photo, then report its worst posts one by one. Facebook's Report a Page help article covers the menu. The Page admins are not told who reported them, which is the practical answer to anyone who wants to file a page harassment report on Facebook anonymously. The exception is reporting a group post to the group's own admins instead of to Facebook: that goes to people, not to Meta's reviewers, and it is safer to assume they can work out who flagged it.
Your business page under attack. If you want to know how to report harassment on Facebook business page comments and reviews, start with the Page's moderation tools rather than reports: hide or delete the comment, ban the profile from the Page, and add the slurs or the harasser's favourite phrases to the Page's blocked-words list so new comments using them are hidden automatically. Then report the profiles behind it. If the attackers are using your brand name or logo to run a copycat account on Instagram, a trademark report on Instagram is a separate legal route, and only the rights holder can file it.
Block, Restrict or Take a break: which one stops the contact without wiping the record?
Restrict first if you need to keep watching; block once the evidence is saved. That order protects the record you will need later.
- Restricted list (Facebook). A restricted friend only sees your public posts and posts they are tagged in. They stay on your friends list and get no notice.
- Take a break. Limits where you see the person and what they see of you, without unfriending. Good for an ex or a relative where a block would escalate things.
- Restrict in Messenger. Their messages move out of your main chat list, and you get no notifications or ringing calls from them. They are not told.
- Block. Unfriends them, stops tags, invites and new messages, and hides their profile from you. That last part is the trap: after a block, you can no longer open their profile to copy its link.
So copy every profile URL, post link and screenshot before you block. Then block without hesitation.
Building the log a Facebook harassment police report needs
A Facebook harassment police report needs a dated, linked record that an officer can verify without logging into your account. Most police forces will not scroll through your feed; they will read what you hand them. Build the log like this:
- A running table. One row per incident: date and time, the surface (post, comment, Messenger, group), the exact words or a short description, and the link.
- Full-screen screenshots. Keep the profile name, date and URL bar in frame where you can. Cropped images of a single sentence are easy to dispute.
- Profile identifiers. The profile URL, not only the display name, because names change and URLs carrying the numeric ID do not.
- Your Facebook report trail. Screenshots of the Support Inbox entries for each report and each decision.
- Your own copy of the data. Download your information from Facebook's settings, which includes your Messenger history, in case the other person deletes their side.
- Anything offline. Calls, letters or someone turning up at your home belong in the same table. Stalking cases are usually built from the pattern, not the single post.
Where it becomes a crime depends on where you live. In England and Wales, the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 requires a course of conduct, meaning at least two occasions; in the U.S., state stalking and harassment laws do most of the work, with federal law covering interstate threats. Ask the officer to request preservation from Meta: its guidelines for law enforcement say it will preserve account records in an official criminal investigation for 90 days while formal legal process is obtained. You cannot make that request yourself, which is why the police report should come early rather than after the account has vanished.
How do you report cyberbullying on Facebook and on the other platforms the same person uses?
File on each platform separately, because no platform acts on another's report. If you were asking how to report harassment on Facebook and social media platforms in one go, there is no single form; there is one case file reused everywhere.
How to report cyberbullying on Facebook when a teenager is the target follows the same table above, with one addition: the young person reports from their own account and a parent reports as well, since Meta's policy gives minors wider protection than adults. Spelled however you search it, how to report cyber bullying on Facebook ends in the same Report menu.
On Instagram, the menus are close to Facebook's, and reporting harassment on Instagram and X walks through both. A hate account there is reported as a whole through an account-level Instagram report, and the written routes are listed under Instagram's report forms. If the harasser posted your photos, photos posted of you without consent covers the privacy reports. If it has turned into money demands, reporting a scammer on Instagram is the closer fit.
When the same person follows you onto X
X is where Twitter Ban Service works. X's report reason is abuse and harassment, and one X report can carry several posts at once, unlike Facebook. Neither platform runs a phone line; how X customer service actually works shows which written channels reach a person. If you deactivated your X account to get away from the pile-on, reactivating an X account explains the 30-day window, and if your posts seem to vanish from replies after a wave of retaliatory reports, run a shadowban check on X before you assume the worst. Twitter Ban Service files reports and escalates them; X makes the final decision.
Start tonight with the table. One row, one link, one screenshot. Report the worst item, restrict the account, and keep going until the log has at least two dated entries you can hand to someone. See all our X reporting solutions or contact the team if the same person has moved to X.
FAQ
How do I report someone for harassment on Facebook if I don't have an account?
Use the Report Something on Facebook form and choose the bullying or harassment option. It asks whether you have an account, a separate link for each item and a short description. If you can't see the content, ask a friend who can to copy the links, because Facebook has to find the content to review it.
Can I file a page harassment report on Facebook anonymously?
Yes. Facebook doesn't tell a Page's admins or a profile owner who reported them, and the no-account form says your name is not shared with the person you report. Reporting a group post to the group's own admins is different: those are people in the group, so assume they may guess.
Where do I see what happened to my Facebook harassment report?
In your Support Inbox, reached from Help and support in the Facebook menu. Each report shows its status and the decision. If the answer is that nothing was removed, the same entry usually offers a way to ask for another review. Screenshot each decision for your log.
Should I report every harassing comment or only the account?
Both, in that order: report the three or four worst comments first so a reviewer sees the actual words, then report the profile if it exists mainly to target you. Dozens of near-identical reports of one comment add nothing a single clear report doesn't.
Does blocking someone on Facebook destroy my evidence?
It hides it from you. After a block you can't open their profile or most of their posts, so copy the profile URL, post links and screenshots first. Your own copy of a Messenger thread is also included when you download your information from Facebook's settings.
Can a parent report cyberbullying on Facebook for their child?
A parent can report, and should, but the child's own report carries more weight because Meta asks for a self-report in some harassment cases. Meta's policy also protects minors more broadly than adults, so name the child's age in the description when a form allows it.
Is reporting harassment on Facebook different from reporting cyber bullying on Facebook?
No. Facebook files both under its Bullying and Harassment policy and the same Report menu, so the choice of word in your search changes nothing. What changes the outcome is reporting the specific post, comment or chat, from the account of the person targeted.
When should a Facebook harassment report go to the police instead?
When there is a threat of violence, stalking, a demand for money or images, or contact that continues after you blocked the person. Report on Facebook too, but give police the dated log early, since only law enforcement can ask Meta to preserve the account's records.