On the internet, it's not so much bullying but rather people freely expressing themselves. Perhaps honestly, perhaps trollishly. It's hard to tell. My stance however is that anyone shouldn't feel offended. Bullying is more like doxxing innocent folks when it comes to the internet, in my opinion.
Let's all uplift each other and build each other to higher standard of interaction.
Agree with this, but I understand some would feel suspicious as there could be be folks taking advantage of others with sweet talk. Maybe their right about it, maybe not..
Or ransomware. Which actually is quite similar in effect to flags, as both extract economic resources based on unequal power, ransomware due to power of knowledge of code, and flags due to power of stake.
Both are bullying.
Just read the comments @berniesanders leaves when flagging some account into the dust. He's bullying. He proclaims it. Pretending he's selflessly balancing rewards for the good of the platform is facile, unless by balance you mean concentrate in the wallets of whales, because that's the outcome of his bullying.
It sure isn't to spread the rewards to quality posts - which are difficult to find in the autovote infested trending page.
Captchas, and 2FA, either or both, would end the problem of bots.