How Can Netsafe Support You When Something Happens Online?

For over 25 years, Netsafe has supported people across New Zealand to have safe and positive online experiences, by providing free support, advice and education to all ages. It's good to know help is here when you need it.

How we can support you

We listen, we care, and we focus on getting you the quickest, safest resolution.

Our service is free

You’ll never pay to contact the helpline

We’re here to help, not judge

You can talk to us about what’s happened without worrying about getting in trouble. Our role is to support you and help you understand your options

Your information is private

We usually don’t involve anyone else unless you agree or there’s a serious safety concern. You can view our privacy statement here.

You choose what to share

We might ask a few questions to understand what’s going on and how we can help, and we’ll explain why we’re asking.

We’ll only move forward in ways you’re comfortable with

We ask for your agreement to take steps that could help. You can pause or stop your report at any time, just let us know.

What happens when you report online harm?

Your report arrives in Netsafe’s inbox for review
We might message or call with a few questions so we understand what’s going on and how you’d like to be supported
We share advice that fits your situation and talk through ways to stay safer online
If your report is about harm affecting someone else, we explain the options for supporting them too
We make a plan with you about what could help and check that it feels right for you
We talk about any other options that might help, even if they’re things Netsafe can’t do directly
We keep you updated about what’s happening as things progress
When we’ve done everything we can, we close your report and let you know how to contact us again if you need more support

Reporting on behalf of someone else

If you’re reporting about someone you know who’s feeling upset, concerned, or hurt by something online

We often need to hear from them directly. If they want your help and it’s safe, you may continue the report for them. If they don’t want support, or want to take over, we can still give you advice about keeping others (and yourself) safe online.

If someone reports something affecting you:

We’ll often ask them to let you know and share how you can contact us. We want to hear from you so have the chance to explain what happened in your own words, choose how we support you, and choose how involved they are.

What can we help with?

Netsafe can:

Help you safely collect evidence of what’s happening
Help you report, block, and use safety tools to stay safer online
Guide you on how to have harmful content removed
Help you figure out who else can support you, like your school, whānau, or other services
Let you know what you can do if Netsafe can’t help

Sometimes we can also:

Ask social media platforms to review and remove content when appropriate
Contact the person responsible for the harm, but only if you want us to and only when it’s safe

What we can't do

Netsafe can't investigate situations the way Police can or punish people for their behaviour online. We can't give legal advice, or force people or platforms to remove content or change what they’re doing.