Herd behavior on WhatsApp. The underlying mechanisms and moderators of conformity to cyber aggression in early adolescents mobile messaging app groups

Mobile messaging apps such as WhatsApp have become omnipresent in the daily lives of early adolescents. Although these apps offer important benefits to communication, their popularity has also led to the increasing occurrence of cyber aggression in messaging apps. Cyber aggression includes behaviors such as nonconsensual image sharing, nasty comments and social exclusion. Particularly problematic is that early adolescents often follow the heard and conform to such behaviors, meaning that a single instance of aggression can have repetitive and lasting impacts. This article provides an overview of PhD research that sought to increase our understanding of conformity to cyber aggression in early adolescents ' mobile messaging apps and explore whether and how behavior change interventions may be developed to reduce conformity to cyber aggression.