Debate: Fighting cyberbullying of young people across the EU
Date: WEDNESDAY, 10 MAY 2023
Speaker: Didier Reynders
Language: EN

In the last decade, digital services have undoubtedly changed the daily lives of all Europeans. They have transformed and increased the possibilities to communicate, share information and exchange opinions and ideas. However, digital services have also become a source of new risks and challenges. Increased access and anonymity of the internet have made cyberbullying more pervasive and more challenging to prevent. Anyone can become a victim of cyber bullying, and the consequences can be devastating. Globally, 1 in 3 children report experiencing online bullying. In 2020, 33 % of girls and 20 % of boys in Europe reported experiencing disturbing content online at least once a month. And the pandemic has not improved this situation. For over five years, cyber bullying has consistently been the biggest issue for young people contacting the EU-funded safer internet centres across Europe. At the end of 2022, nearly 1 in 6 contacts to their helplines was about cyber bullying. For example, in Ireland, the Irish hotline reported in 2021 that 83 % of victims of intimate-image abuse were female and 73 % were between the ages of 25 and 34. Half of the reported images were found on video sharing services. 23 % were uploaded to image hosting services. 19 % were posted to social media platforms. These statistics are alarming, but the EU has a solid toolbox to face these problems, including legislation, policies and funding.  Our commitment is well reflected in the Digital Services Act, the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, the 2022 Better Internet for Children Strategy and in the EU Comprehensive Strategy on the Rights of the Child, as well as in the Commission’s proposal combating violence against women and domestic violence. First of all, the Digital Services Act creates a wide set of due diligence obligations applicable to intermediaries of digital services. The new rules are adapted to the type, size and nature of the service concerned. The most stringent rules are imposed on the digital services that have more than 45 million users in the European Union. The very large online platforms and search engines. The DSA recognises the specific risks related to serious negative effects on a person’s physical and mental well-being, as well as consequences on physical and mental development of children caused by using these platforms. The DSA also obliges online platforms to put in place appropriate and proportionate measures by, for example, designing their interface or its parts with the highest level of privacy, safety and security for minors by default, adopting standards for protection of minors or participating in codes of conduct for protection of minors. The DSA obliges the very large online platforms and search engines to assess the actual and foreseeable effects of their services on mental health. They should also implement solutions that remedy the negative effects.  Just two weeks ago, the Commission adopted the first designation decisions, resulting in the formal designation of 17 very large online platforms and two very large search engines. The rules of those services will enter into application four months after their formal designation. The Commission’s services have started engaging with these designated services, notably as regards their measures to protect minors. This is an issue to which the Commission attaches particular importance.  There are also specific EU rules for video sharing platforms and on-demand services which do not qualify as intermediaries under the DSA. The Audiovisual Media Services Directive obliges platforms to take specific measures on the protection of minors for audiovisual content which may impair their physical, mental or moral development. The list of required measures includes establishing and operating age-verification systems and parental-control measures. In addition, the platform must ensure that users have the possibility to report, flag and red content if they consider that it may impair physical, mental and moral development of minors, for instance, pornographic content. To improve children’s well-being online, the Commission adopted in 2022 the Better Internet for Kids strategy with three pillars: a safe age, appropriate digital environment, digital empowerment, and active participation of children. Under the strategy, the co-funded safer internet centres in all Member States play an important role in supporting children’s mental health in the online environment. Examples of good practices for the safer internet centres include a cyber-bullying kit for people with intellectual disabilities from the age of 12, for caregivers and police in Luxembourg, a dedicated mobile app for young people to report cyber bullying in France, online courses for teachers in Poland or lesson plans on Coco’s Law in Ireland. In Ireland, the EU funded hotline also offers a portal for reporting intimate image abuse. The Commission will also ensure that the 116 111 harmonised number addresses cyber bullying in cooperation with the EU co-funded safer internet helplines.  We cannot forget that cyber bullying often takes a gendered angle where young women or men are harassed online for reasons related to their gender. This constitutes a form of gender-based violence. This type of violence is covered by the Commission’s proposal combating violence against women and domestic violence from 2022. The proposal provides for the EU-wide criminalisation of certain forms of violence against women, including cyber violence. It will notably criminalise cyber harassment at EU level. The proposal also foresees specific measures to protect and support victims, for example, by making it easier to remove harmful online content. And while this form of cyber violence concerns predominantly women and girls, the proposed directive also covers cyber harassment against men and boys.  Moreover, racist and xenophobic hate crimes and hate speech are prohibited under EU law. The framework decision on combating racism and xenophobia of 2008 requires the Member States to criminalise hate speech and hate crime on the basis of race, colour, religion, distance or national or ethnic origin. In this context, the Commission initiated in 2016 a voluntary code of conduct with major social media platforms. We are now looking at further interplay between the DSA and the code.  Finally. Protection and repression against cyber bullying cannot go without prevention, in particular at school. The European Education Area addresses well-being in schools to build positive learning environments for all learners. In this context, two flagship initiatives address bullying: the Council recommendation on pathways to School Success; and the launch of an expert group on supportive learning environments for groups at risk of underachievement and for supporting well-being at school.  So I thank you for your attention and I will be very attentive to your reactions.