What digital violence is

Why it differs from violence in person

Digital violence does not stop when the school doors close. A message or a recording stays available, gets shared on, and is seen by far more people than any fight in the playground would be. The perpetrator often hides behind a false name, so the victim does not even know who they are defending themselves against.

• It is there around the clock, at home too
• The content spreads fast and is hard to delete
• The perpetrator’s anonymity deepens the fear
• Adults notice it in time less often

The most common forms

Digital violence covers a range of behaviour — from constant insults in comments to threats, publishing someone else’s photos and shutting a person out of a group.

• Insults, gossip and abuse in comments and groups
• Threats and intimidation by message
• Publishing or sharing intimate photos without consent
• Fake profiles in someone else’s name
• Deliberately shutting someone out of groups and conversations
• Filming someone’s humiliation and sharing the recording

When it is already a criminal offence

Some forms of digital violence are not merely inappropriate — they are against the law. Threatening violence, harassment, extortion using intimate content and publishing recordings without consent can all be criminal offences, no matter how old the perpetrator is.