The fact that the Internet is not a safe place for children and adolescents has been known for a long time. Social media uses sophisticated algorithms to capture the attention of users of all ages and often expose minors to addiction, as well as potentially harmful content.
In late August, Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, avoided a court ruling in the United States through an out-of-court agreement: it will pay $16,680 million to the lawsuits states and limit to two hours a day the time teenagers can spend on their platforms; in addition, access will be completely blocked during the night.
Now, a new UNICEF report focuses on another risk: sexual violence in the digital environment. According to the study, one in five young people between the ages of 12 and 17 have suffered some form of online sexual assault during the last year.
The UNICEF report, to which DW had access before its publication, describes how this type of aggression usually occurs. “Often, it starts without notice. A conversation becomes coercion, and coercion becomes a trap,” the authors point out.
The stereotype of the unknown who harasses minors on the internet only matches 16% of cases. Most of the assailants, 57%, were already known to the victims: friends, family or even sentimental partners. In 27% of cases, young people were unable to identify who was behind the profiles. Aggressors can be both adults and minors and, often, abuse occurs simultaneously in the digital world and in real life.
Large platforms concentrate the majority of incidents. According to UNICEF, 60% of the attacks took place on social media, especially Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, followed by Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube. In addition, 14% of respondents identified online video games as the area where the aggression suffered, as many allow the exchange of direct messages.
The report also highlights the pressure exercised by the aggressors and the feeling of shame that makes it difficult to ask for help. 41% of the victims did not tell anyone about their experience. Those who sought support mostly turned to friends, brothers and sisters or mothers.
The report included surveys of some 21,000 teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 who regularly use the internet. According to UNICEF, the sample is representative of users of that age group in each of the 21 countries analyzed.
The latest data comes from Armenia, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Pakistan and Serbia. These were added to those already collected between 2020 and 2021 from Ethiopia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mozambique, Namibia, the Philippines, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda and Vietnam.
The study also incorporates in-depth interviews with 100 young people who suffered abuse during their childhood.
The 2020 EU Kids Online survey found that 22% of participants in 19 European countries had received messages of sexual content.
In a survey conducted in Spanish secondary schools during the course 2021/22, 21% of schoolgirls said they suffered online sexual harassment occasionally and 5% frequently. Among the boys, the percentages were slightly lower.
Also, a 2022 Pew Research Center survey showed that 17% of U.S. youths aged 13 to 17 had received explicit, unsolicited images online.
The authors of the report call on governments, technology companies and other institutions to strengthen the protection of minors in the digital environment.
Among its main recommendations are:
The report, along with cases such as Meta in the United States, adds to the debate raised in many Western countries on the possible prohibition of access to social networks for children and adolescents. Australia was the first country to introduce a minimum age of 16 to have accounts on social media. The UK plans to apply a similar measure from 2027. In France, a minimum age of 15 years was approved, although the norm was recently stopped by the Constitutional Council.
In Germany, a committee of experts proposed in June a graduated model that combines age limits, identity verification and increased obligations for digital platforms.
