What violence is

Forms of violence and how to recognise them

Violence is any behaviour that deliberately causes another person pain, fear or harm. It does not have to be physical to count as violence, and it does not have to be repeated to be worth reporting.

Basics

What digital violence is

Digital violence is any deliberate behaviour online or by phone that causes another person pain, fear, harm or humiliation.

Peer violence

Cyberbullying

When peers repeatedly insult, exclude or humiliate you online, that is cyberbullying — it is not a “joke” and not a part of growing up.

Threats

Harassment and threats

Persistent contact, following and threats sent in messages are harassment. Threatening violence is a criminal offence, including when it is sent online.

Intimate content

Image abuse and sextortion

When someone publishes, shares or threatens to publish an intimate photo of you in order to get something from you — that is sextortion, one of the most serious forms of digital violence.

Identity

Fake profiles and identity theft

A profile opened in someone else’s name, with someone else’s photos, is used to insult, to defraud or to get close to children. That is not a harmless joke.

Discrimination

Hate speech

Hate speech is a public attack on a person or a group because of nationality, religion, language, disability, sex or any other personal characteristic.

Prevention

How to protect yourself online

Most digital violence starts where personal data is left too open. A few settings and habits significantly reduce the risk.

For parents

What parents should do

Children usually do not tell straight away. An adult’s job is not to monitor every click, but to be the person a child can come to without fear of punishment.

For schools

What a school should do

A school is obliged to act on every report of violence, regardless of whether it happened on school premises or online.