More Stories, Less Hate: How Youth in Cyprus Are Challenging Cyberbullying Through Participatory Video
It all starts with a simple choice.
In today’s digital spaces, everyday interactions can shift in an instant. A shared photo, a fleeting laugh, and a careless comment can quickly cross the line into cyberbullying. Yet, just as easily as harm is caused online, informed peer intervention can stop it before it escalates.
As part of the HATE-LESS project, our consortium partner in Cyprus, the WAVES Foundation for Global Education, has been collaborating directly with high school students to explore constructive digital behaviour, empathy, and active upstanding.
The result of this collaboration is the newly released video: “HATE-LESS Cyprus Participatory Video 1 | 🛑 Bullying”, created by students from Apostolon Petrou kai Pavlou Lyceum (St. Peter & Paul Lyceum) in Limassol.
The Power of Peer-Led Storytelling
In this first participatory video from Cyprus, high school students from Apostolon Petrou kai Pavlou Lyceum (St. Peter & Paul Lyceum, Limassol, Cyprus) show how quickly a phone, a laugh, and a cruel comment can turn into cyberbullying, and how easily we can stop it before it starts. Words have power. Silence strengthens the bully, while support gives strength to the person being targeted. Don’t be a bystander: speak up, reach out, and be the person you’d want by your side.
“Words have power. Silence strengthens the bully, while support gives strength to the person being targeted. Don’t be a bystander: speak up, reach out, and be the person you’d want by your side. More stories. Less hate.”
🎥 Watch the full participatory video on YouTube:
Words Have Power: Choosing More Stories, Less Hate
Cyberbullying often thrives because bystanders feel hesitant or unsure of how to intervene. By illustrating the perspective of both the target and the observer, the Limassol students highlight practical actions peers can take:
- Recognising the Shift: Identifying when casual online joking transitions into harmful exclusionary behaviour.
- Breaking the Silence: Refusing to like, share, or amplify degrading remarks.
- Extending Active Support: Sending a direct message, checking in on a peer, and showing solidarity.
- Being the Person You’d Want by Your Side: Speaking up early to change group dynamics before permanent harm is done.
About HATE-LESS
The HATE-LESS project addresses hate speech, online abuse, and digital discrimination by training educators, youth workers, and young people across Europe in positive counter-narratives, digital media literacy, and participatory content creation.
Official Website of the HATE-LESS Project: https://hate-less.eu
Consortium Partners:
- EUROPEAN YOUTH4MEDIA NETWORK EV – Germany: https://youth4media.eu/
- EESTI PEOPLE TO PEOPLE – Estonia https://www.ptpest.ee/
- MITRA FRANCE – France: https://www.facebook.com/mitrafr/
- Evolutionary Archetypes Consulting SL – Spain: https://ea.consulting/
- WAVES FOUNDATION FOR GLOBAL EDUCATION – Cyprus: https://www.wavesfoundation.org/
Funding Agency: JUGEND für Europa
