Youth-Led Inquiry into Cyberbullying and Cyberviolence

The UK Safer Internet Centre joined a panel of experts to answer questions from a group of young people about cyberbullying.

On the 1st August at the City Hall in central London, the UK Safer Internet Centre took part in an in-depth youth led inquiry into the issues associated with cyberbullying and cyberviolence with the aim of coming up with practical and realistic solutions on how to educate and protect children and young people in the digital age. 

The youth panel was made up of 12 young people aged 16-22 who represented different interest areas such as: education, online gaming, feminism and there was even a “head of banter” – who highlighted how easy it is to go too far with the things you say online.  

The panel of experts included the Office of the Children’s Commissioner, South West Grid for Learning, the Insititute for Well-Being, The Tavistock Institute, Childnet, Facebook, UKIE, CEOP, Beatbullying, the Diana Award, Twitter and Moshi Monsters who spoke about the strategies and policies that have been put in place to protect children on the internet, as well as the challenges that they face in keeping up with rapidly shifting trends on the internet.

By the end of the day there was a clear conclusion to the inquiry; although this discussion centred on bullying specifically in the context of online communications the inquiry agreed that the consistent message to be delivered to children and young people of all ages is that bullying is and always will be intolerable on any level, whether that is online or offline.