Beyond the target: mitigating bystander secondary vulnerability to cyberbullying in online environments

Cyberbullying is a prevalent issue with severe consequences for targets. While growing scholarship has investigated the role bystanders can play in mitigating the negative effects of cyberbullying, researchers have given much less attention to the impact of cyberbullying on these altruistic individuals. This study represents one of the first comprehensive assessments of secondary vulnerability experienced by bystanders, which we conceptualise as the emotional, psychological, social, and physical harms experienced by those witnessing a negative event. Drawing on a systematic review of 50 peer-reviewed articles, this research outlines a framework inspired by vulnerability research, proposing that bystanders’ experiences of harm can impact their ability to intervene, thus affecting their ability to reduce the negative impacts of cyberbullying. The findings highlight how individual and contextual (socio-technical) factors moderate these harms and shape bystander behaviour. Importantly, these findings not only expand our understanding of bystander dynamics in the context of cyberbullying but also emphasise critical design affordances to help platforms better support bystanders. By highlighting the interplay between psychological vulnerability and the design approaches from HCI, we extend the understanding of the impact of bystander interventions and underscore the importance of capturing and integrating user experience to address cyberbullying more effectively.