Cyberbullying Research Center

What Cyberbullying Research Center does

The Cyberbullying Research Center is an independent, Jupiter, Florida-based research organization co-founded by Dr. Sameer Hinduja and Dr. Justin Patchin that has been the de facto academic reference point for cyberbullying research in the United States since at least 2005. Its core product is a curated library of free, downloadable fact sheets, tip sheets, glossaries, activity guides, and presentation materials addressing cyberbullying, online harassment, teen sexting, sextortion, digital dating abuse, and, increasingly, generative AI harms to youth, alongside published books (including Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard and Words Wound) and peer-reviewed journal articles. Underlying its work is a proprietary Cyberbullying Research Scale and a longitudinal data asset built from five national surveys of roughly 3,500 U.S. teens aged 13-17 per wave. Resources are distributed through cyberbullying.org and channeled into platforms via partnerships such as the 2026 collaboration with Meta, which embedded its parent-facing conversation starters in Meta's AI Insights feature for Teen Accounts.

The organization serves K-12 schools, parents and caregivers, health care providers, and adult victims of online harassment, with secondary influence on law enforcement, university researchers, and policy bodies. Its distribution combines free self-serve downloads for individuals and SMB audiences, paid keynote and workshop engagements for institutional buyers, and embedded content through major technology platforms. Commercial revenue is generated through grants, donations, speaking fees, and platform advisory arrangements rather than through software licensing or subscriptions, and the firmographics layer indicates 1-10 employees, no disclosed funding rounds, and no parent company or acquirer.

Strategically, the center is pivoting its research base from purely social-media-era cyberbullying toward generative AI safety and sextortion, mirroring the regulatory and parental anxiety around AI companions, deepfakes, and extortion. Its competitive position is built on accumulated longitudinal data, two decades of media citations, and personal-brand recognition of its co-founders, but its small headcount, for-profit status adjacent to non-profit-style operations, and lack of disclosed financials suggest an influence-heavy, scale-light business that monetizes mainly through ad hoc advisory and speaking work.

Name

Cyberbullying Research Center

Legal name

Cyberbullying Research Center

Website

https://cyberbullying.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Cyberbullying Research Center is an independent U.S. research organization that produces free cyberbullying, online safety, and AI-harm research, fact sheets, and presentations for K-12 schools, parents, health care providers, and policy bodies, with content embedded inside platforms such as Meta's parental tools.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Safety Research and Education

NAICS

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172), Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (5192)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Cyberbullying Prevention, Reporting & Case Management (EDAFALAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Academic Integrity, Device Monitoring & Classroom Management Tools (EDAJAMAK), Digital Safety, Privacy & Cyber Hygiene (EDAAAIAD)

Keywords

• Cyberbullying research
• Online safety education
• Youth internet safety
• Cyberbullying prevention
• Digital harassment resources

Headquarters

HQ city

Jupiter

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Research and Education Services: The organization provides free educational resources and conducts research as a non-profit entity. Revenue appears to come from grants, donations, speaking fees for presentations, and potentially partnerships with organizations like Meta for advisory services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Cyberbullying Research Center produces and distributes free, research-informed educational resources — including downloadable fact sheets, tip sheets, glossaries, activities, books, and presentation materials — focused on identifying, preventing, and responding to cyberbullying and online safety issues among youth. It conducts national longitudinal surveys of US teens, publishes peer-reviewed research and journal articles, and delivers paid keynote presentations and workshops to schools, universities, law enforcement, and community organizations.

Product overview

The Cyberbullying Research Center is a single unified offering centered on research-based education and resources rather than a software product. The organization produces downloadable fact sheets, tip sheets, and reference materials covering cyberbullying, sexting, online safety, and related topics; publishes books including 'Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard' and 'Words Wound'; offers presentations and keynotes for schools and organizations; provides interactive maps of US bullying and cyberbullying laws; maintains the Cyberbullying Scale for research measurement; and publishes journal articles and research summaries. All products and services serve the singular mission of informing and educating stakeholders about youth online safety.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Free Educational Resource Library
• Keynote Presentations and Workshops
• Books on Cyberbullying Prevention
• National Cyberbullying Research Surveys
• Cyberbullying Scale (Proprietary Measurement Instrument)
• US Bullying and Cyberbullying Law Maps
• Meta AI Insights Conversation Starters

Quantifiable outcome

• Research shows 24% of 13-17-year-olds have sent explicit images (up from 7-11% nearly a decade ago), highlighting the scale of issues the organization addresses
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

17 partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• Meta PlatformscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 23 April 2026Partnership to develop conversation starters for parents as part of Meta's AI Insights feature. The feature allows supervising parents to view broad topic categories their teenagers discussed with Meta AI over the past seven days. The collaboration aims to provide parents with tools to engage in meaningful conversations about their children's AI interactions.
• UNICEFflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-standing partnership working on global youth online safety initiatives.
• Federal Trade Commission (FTC)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative efforts on consumer protection and youth safety in digital environments.
• Harvard University (Berkman Klein Center)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerParticipated in international working group hosted by TUM Think Tank at Technical University of Munich along with colleagues from Harvard's Berkman Klein Center on child-centered digital environments.
• ApplecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOrganizations worked with on youth online safety initiatives.
• YouTubecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOrganizations worked with on platform safety initiatives.
• Instagram (Meta)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative efforts on cyberbullying prevention and teen safety features.
• SnapchatcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnerships on youth safety initiatives and cyberbullying prevention.
• TikTokcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOnline safety collaboration with the platform.
• RobloxcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerYouth online safety initiatives with the gaming platform.
• World Economic ForumflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerOrganizations worked with on global youth digital safety issues.
• United NationsflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational efforts on youth online safety through UN partnerships.
• World Bank GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOrganizations worked with on development and youth safety initiatives.
• National PTAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to reach parent audiences with cyberbullying prevention resources.
• GooglecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOrganizations worked with on youth online safety initiatives.
• FBIflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on law enforcement education regarding cyberbullying and online safety.
• Sesame WorkshopcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOrganizations worked with on early childhood digital literacy and safety.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Qustodio: Parental control and digital wellbeing software used by schools and families; comparable focus on monitoring and prevention for minors, positioned as an emerging commercial counterpart to the Center's educational approach.
• Bark Technologies: Commercial parental monitoring and content-filtering product used by schools and families; comparable end-customer audience (parents, K-12) and overlaps with the Center's prevention mission, but monetizes via software subscriptions rather than research.

Direct peers

• Thorn: Nonprofit building technology and research to defend children from sexual abuse; comparable as a child-safety research and platform-adjacent organization that partners with major tech companies on safety tooling.
• ConnectSafely: Nonprofit delivering research-based safety guides, tip sheets, and educator resources on social media, AI, and youth — overlapping directly with the Center's downloadable resource library and K-12 educator focus.
• Common Sense Media: Nonprofit that produces research, ratings, and educational resources on media, technology, and youth digital safety — closest direct analog to the Cyberbullying Research Center's research-plus-resources model for parents, educators, and policymakers.
• Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI): International nonprofit think tank and policy convener on online safety; comparable in mission (research-informed guidance for parents, platforms, and policymakers) and in convening major tech platforms and governments.

Regional players

• Internet Matters: UK-based nonprofit providing research, advice, and tools for parents and educators on online safety — operates with a comparable research-plus-resources model but is anchored to UK policy and stakeholders.

Others

• Sesame Workshop: Educational nonprofit behind Sesame Street with documented partnership history with the Center on early-childhood digital literacy; thematically adjacent rather than directly competitive, included because of the explicit partnership signal.

Broad incumbents

• Aura: Consumer digital safety and identity protection platform that bundles parental controls; comparable end-audience and youth-safety positioning, but a broader incumbent with paid product distribution at scale.
• National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC): Larger, federally chartered organization operating the CyberTipline and NetSmartz education program; comparable as a youth online safety authority with deep law-enforcement and platform partnerships, but broader in mandate.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/cyberbullying
• Facebookfacebook.com/cyberbullyingresearch
• Instagraminstagram.com/cyberbullyresearch
• Pinterestpinterest.com/cyberbullyresearch

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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