Leveraging AI for Direct Bystander Intervention Against Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is a pervasive problem in online environments, causing substantial psychological harm to victims. Although bystander intervention has proven effective in mitigating its impact, motivating bystanders to engage in direct intervention remains a persistent challenge. Studies have suggested that difficulties in intervention skills and defending self-efficacy hinder bystanders from initiating direct intervention. To address this challenge, we introduced EmojiGen, an AI intervention tool designed to empower bystanders for direct intervention. EmojiGen enabled users to simply select an emoji as an intention clue, which subsequently combined the cyberbullying context to generate responses. In a between-subjects experiment involving 90 participants on a custom-built social media platform, we found that EmojiGen significantly increased the frequency of direct bystander interventions, both in supporting victims and in confronting perpetrators, driven by different factors. EmojiGen also increased the sense of knowing how to help and defending self-efficacy, while reducing perceived workload and anxiety associated with initiating intervention. The study contributed to the CSCW community through offering an effective direct bystander intervention method and providing design implications for future cyberbullying interventions.