Children can access smartphones and join social media sites at an ever-younger age, and are, therefore, more likely to encounter online dangers, among other things.

This is a worrying trend highlighted by the Digital Parenting survey of the National Media and Infocommunications Authority (NMHH). Of particular concern is the fact that the ratio of children aged 11 to 16 who have been contacted online by a stranger doubled in three years, going up from 9 to 18 per cent.

The survey also found that every 10th child surveyed accepted the friend request of a stranger.

However, as parents, many are not aware of this information because they have not yet encountered the problem of online grooming or cyberbullying.

Thus, if their child becomes a victim of abuse in a situation like the one described above, they may feel helpless, angry and desperate, not knowing where to turn for help.

In this campaign, we encourage parents who find out that their child has been the target of online abuse to not be afraid to ask for help – as parents, they are not alone, they do not have to deal with an unknown situation by themselves.

Online abuse: worrying trends

While we teach children how to evade offline dangers from a very young age, learning how to stay safe in the digital space at an early age is just as important.

The international association INHOPE initiated the removal of over half a million images portraying the sexual abuse of children worldwide in 2023, 80 per cent of which involved children under the age of 13.

Unfortunately, the situation is no better in Hungary: according to a report of the Internet Hotline, a service operated by the NMHH, 42 per cent of the reports received in Hungary in 2023 concerned the online sexual abuse of children and related images.

For around 17 per cent of the reports examined, i.e. almost every sixth notification in the category of child pornography, analysts assumed that the recording had been solicited from the child through online grooming.

Online grooming is the process of an adult trying to gain a child’s trust online for sexual purposes.

Another major problem is cyberbullying, where harassment by peers creates ongoing stressful situations not only at school but also at home.

For adults, intimate image abuse is a challenge: in the IH category of content published without consent, one-third of the reports last year were related to intimate, sexual images and videos posted online without the permission of the reporting person, the person in the images.

Dare to ask for help! Campaign to protect young people

In the Internet Hotline’s experience, children often try to solve these situations on their own, assuming that adults cannot help and will only forbid them from using the device.

Victim blaming is also a serious problem for both children and adults, heightening victims’ sense of shame and making them less inclined to seek help. However, there is a place to find help: the Internet Hotline, set up by the NMHH in 2011 as a legal advisory service, has dealt with more than 18 thousand reports of online abuse since its establishment.

Reports, which can be submitted anonymously, are handled by qualified analysts. If abuse is suspected, the experts will contact the service providers to examine the content in question, or will contact the police if there is suspicion of criminal offence.

The IH works in close cooperation with the National Bureau of Investigation of the Rapid Response and Special Police Service and the staff of the biggest social media platforms, such as Meta, Google, YouTube, TikTok and Discord.

Besides handling reports, awareness-raising is also a key priority: the educational campaign is aimed primarily at parents, as it is important for them to recognise when their child has become a victim of online abuse and know that there is somewhere to turn to and have the courage to ask for help.

In the campaign, the IH will reach out to parents through various digital platforms, which will be accompanied by editorials and interviews in the press and on radio stations to provide a deeper and more elaborate coverage of the issue.

It is equally important to reach and speak to stakeholders, children and young people. In view of the news and media consumption habits of under-18s, the IH will collaborate with influencers.

Through their online presence and activities, influencers, who are mainly active on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, are themselves aware of the threats at the heart of this campaign, and the topics they address can reach a wide audience on their social media platforms, effectively spreading the message: #merjsegitsegetkerni