Cyberbullying rate increases in Romania

A recent study reveals that the rate of cyberbullying is higher now in Romania than it was two years ago. About 45% of children were emotionally affected or offended in cyberspace in the past year, according to a recent study conducted by Salvati Copii (Save the Children) organization. Over 20% of children say they have seen or received sexual messages. Some 42% of them personally received a picture or a message with explicit content, 8% were invited to talk about sexual acts, and 5% were asked to send a picture or a video with their private parts. Compared to the results of a similar study conducted two years ago, the offline bullying remained relatively constant, but the cyberbullying rate increased by some 13%. “We are concerned about the increased percentage of children who say they were harassed online and the increased percentage of children who claim to have had a bad experience due to meeting a person online,” said Gabriela Alexandrescu, executive president of Salvati Copii Romania. Salvati Copii marked the Safer Internet Day on February 10 with an event focused on the implications of digitization of education for students and teachers. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com