Rakuten Viber survey reveals over half of Ukrainian children have experienced bullying

Rakuten Viber carried out a survey amongst Ukrainian participants, garnering about 50,000 responses from users via the official Viber Ukraine channel, to collect data on the prevalence of bullying among children.

Rubryka informs about this.

What is the problem?

The survey showed that more than half of the children (59%) faced bullying.

35% of respondents know how to protect themselves. On the other hand, 39% of respondents noted that they are unfamiliar with the problem of bullying and do not believe such a thing can happen.

To the question "Has your child encountered bullying?" the answers were distributed as follows:

• No, it is hardly possible – 39%
• Yes, the child knows how to protect himself – 35%
• Yes, it happens periodically – 24%

What is the solution?

As the problem of bullying remains relevant online as well, Rakuten Viber reminds us of valuable features that will help maintain a safe communication environment for the child:

• Blocking a contact: If a contact keeps writing aggressive messages that upset the child, it can be blocked.

How to block a contact on Viber: Open Viber on your phone → tap Chats → select the chat you want → tap info icon (Android) or chat name (iOS) → tap Chat info and settings → tap Block this contact

• View and manage message requests from unknown users: If you do not want to receive messages from strangers, you can enable a feature that will allow you to filter such requests.

How to enable: Click on the symbol in the form of three dots "More" at the bottom right → "Settings" → "Privacy" → Check the box opposite "Message requests."

What else works?

In addition to technical advice, it is also worth remembering the basic steps that will help fight online bullying:

• do not ignore attacks – cyberbullying is not the norm, and the aggressor must be held accountable;
• remember about privacy settings in social networks and messengers;
• do not share personal data unnecessarily, and do not share photos with strangers on the web;
• every social platform has content appeal forms and pursues the goal of blocking such messages to maintain "informational hygiene" – it is worth using them in case of attacks;
• teach the child not to be alone with the problem – you can always seek the support of adults: parents, teachers, relatives, school psychologists, etc.

For reference:

Rubryka wrote about how and why Ukrainian journalists are harassed and what to do to protect the personal data.

Rubryka also reported that Rakuten Viber conducted a survey of Ukrainians on whether they were satisfied with the educational process at school this year. More than half of the respondents (57%) answered that it is difficult to call this year academic. However, every fourth Ukrainian is glad that the war did not become an obstacle to education.