Rise in cyberbullying counselling for schoolchildren

There has been as 12 per cent increase in the number of counselling sessions about cyberbullying held by Childline, research shows.

According to research by Childline, 5,103 counselling sessions about cyberbullying were held in 2016/17 - a 12 per cent increase from the previous year.

Findings also show that sessions have more than doubled since cyberbullying was first recorded as a specific issue 5 years ago.

Children have told counsellors about name-calling, spreading rumours, death threats and blackmail posted publicly on social media profiles, blogs and online pictures.

Primary school-aged children as young as nine have contacted Childline regarding cyberbullying and girls and 12 to 15 years old have received the most counselling sessions.

As a result, Childline is calling on the government to draw up a rulebook enshrined in law to require all social media sites to protect children from cyberbullying and other online abuse.

These rules should require social media companies to introduce cyberbullying alerts which flags bullying behaviour to moderators and sends notifications to young people being targeted.

The report also recommends that there needs to be strict privacy settings by default, clear and easy to understand reporting processes, and specially-trained child safety moderators.

Martha Evans, national coordinator of the Anti-Bullying Alliance who runs Anti-Bullying Week said: "These worrying statistics show what an important issue cyberbullying is for young people today. The social pressures that children face are immense and this is compounded by messaging online. We know bullying often starts face to face and spreads into the digital world."