Better Internet for Kids

The most recent helpline data covers the period from April to June 2024. There were over 13,700 contacts made to the network which is a reduction on the previous reporting period. The beginning of the summer period is usually quieter and, in some countries, schools finish early in June which can have an impact on contacts that helplines receive.

51 per cent of contacts come from teens (12–18-year-olds) with 8 per cent from younger children (5–11-year-olds). These percentages remain fairly consistent from one reporting period to another, but helplines do report that there are increasing numbers of younger children getting in touch with them reflecting the growing numbers who are online.

The most common way to contact a helpline continues to be by phone with 53 per cent of users getting in touch this way. 25 per cent use chat, with more helplines now offering this possibility.

Helplines are asked (where possible) to capture data related to where a particular issue or problem occurred. Exactly half of the helplines are able to collect this data, and the majority of issues (75 per cent) are taking place on social media platforms. This percentage has been increasing over recent reporting periods. Additionally, seven per cent of the problems are experienced in gaming environments and 16 per cent on messaging services such as WhatsApp.

Cyberbullying continues to be the most common reason for reaching out to a helpline and, during this reporting period, over 14 per cent of contacts were about this.

Contacts related to e-crime rose slightly to just over 10 per cent with love, relationships and sexuality (online) accounting for over nine per cent of all contacts. It would appear that artificial intelligence (AI) is playing a role here with a recent report finding that “AI is already being used in malicious cyber activity and will almost certainly increase the volume and impact of cyber-attacks – including ransomware – in the near term”. The number of cyber-attacks on Belgian and Dutch organisations has increased by around one-third in the last 12 months and there has been an overall increase in Europe of 35 per cent.

An infographic provides a visual representation of many of the above points.

Infographic credit: EUN/Better Internet for Kids

Insafe contacts are now grouped into four main areas:

1. Being online (incorporating advertising and commercialism, data privacy, fake news, media literacy/education, potentially harmful content, self-harm, suicide and technical settings. This area accounted for 35 per cent of all contacts.
2. Online violence (incorporating cyberbullying, e-crime, hate speech and radicalisation/terrorism) and this accounted for 26 per cent of all contacts. There has been an increase in contacts relating to these issues for the last three reporting periods.
3. Online activities/relations (incorporating excessive use, gaming, love, relationships, sexuality (online) online reputation and pornography) which accounted for 24 per cent of all calls. This was a two per cent reduction on the previous reporting period and is four per cent lower than Q4 in 2023.
4. Online sexual abuse and violence (incorporating grooming, the non-consensual sharing of intimate images (NCSII) and the online sexual coercion and extortion of minors (which used to be referred to as sextortion). This area accounted for 15 per cent of all contacts made.

The table below shows the percentage of contacts assigned to each category.

Find out more about country-based helpline services operating as part of the national Safer Internet Centre network and keep up with news updates on helpline services.