Social network, Yubo is taking action against online bullying and harmful content with the introduction of its Muted Words feature, which enables its users to block specific words and phrases that they find personally triggering.

Cyberbullying has been on the rise among young people during lockdown with 24 per cent of children estimated to experience some form of cyberbullying, according to the Anti-Bullying Alliance. 

Yubo, which has a Gen Z user base of over 45m across 40 different countries, is continuing to take steps to ensure that the platform is a safe space for young people.

The Muted Words feature allows users to specify a number of words and abbreviations that they find offensive, harmful and triggering to them which they no longer wish to see in comments or content on the app. Users will also be able to choose from whom to mute the words – for example, they can block from all users or just those that aren’t on their friends list. Yubo will then automatically hide comments containing these words from the users view.

Alongside this, the platform is working with UK charities Childnet and The Diana Award to provide resources for those affected by online abuse.

Working with The Diana Award, Yubo will be engaging its community to ask questions and have a constructive discussion through an in-app talk that the Diana Award will be hosting.

“There is nothing more important to us than the safety and wellbeing of our users. The introduction of our Muted Words feature is another step we are taking to ensure that everyone can use the app without fear of judgement or harassment. As more and more young people connect online its never been more imperative to educate them on online behaviours and the effects that certain words can have on others” said Lead Safety Manager at Yubo, Margaux Liquard.