One in seven children are victims of online bullying

In the past year, 70,268 reports of child abuse on the internet have been submitted to the Cybercrime Directorate of the General Directorate for Combatting Organised Crime, Antoaneta Vasileva, coordinator of the Safer Internet Centre, said on February 1, during a conference marking the 20th anniversary of the organization’s founding.

According to Vasileva, awareness among parents and children about online safety has significantly increased.

“We are receiving more and more inquiries from parents. They increasingly ask how to make their profiles secure or how to limit screen time,” Vasileva explained.

She also noted that the Safer Internet Centre is actively working on all the reports received. However, troubling data is emerging—one in every seven children is a victim of online abuse, she added.

“Almost 99% of children who suffer from online abuse are girls,” Vasileva further stated.

“We have received over 100,000 reports regarding images being shared on Telegram. The content that we have not managed to remove, however, was transferred to a server in the Netherlands, and we are fighting to have it taken down,” Vasileva explained.

According to her, children face abuse not only on social media but also in various chat applications and online games. Last year, a total of 1,749,747 reports were received through the centre's hotline.

Anyone who has been a victim of online bullying or wishes to report wrongdoing can do so on the Centre's portal.

Source: BTA