The head of the ANO “White Internet” called the number of victims of cyberbullying in Russia

Every fifth child in Russia has repeatedly faced bullying on the Internet. Such disappointing statistics were voiced by the head of the ANO “White Internet” Elina Sidorenko. The number of teenagers who have dealt with manifestations of cyberbullying at least once in their lives is off scale. 50% of young netizens have been victims of aggressive comments.

– According to a number of expert organizations, about 50% of children have been bullied at least once. And approximately 30% of children were subjected to it two or more times, – said Elina Sidorenko, director of the Center for Digital Economy and Financial Innovation at MGIMO, at a press conference dedicated to the presentation of the White Internet project.

Online, children face harassment, neglect, blacklisting. In addition, photos and videos of bullying teenagers in real life are leaking to the Internet.

– There are also questions of constant insults, questions of inappropriate comments, and so on, – said the general director of the ANO “White Internet”.

Sidorenko stressed that at the moment there is no special legislation in Russia that allows such actions to be given a proper legal assessment.

At the same time, as the expert noted, most parents are not aware of the “network” life of their children. Moreover, adults do not know where to call and write if they witness offensive or outright illegal activities on the Internet.

According to Elina Sidorenko, the White Internet will become just the organization that, in addition to monitoring what is happening on the network, will take on the mission of teaching children and adults the rules of digital hygiene. In addition, the new structure will deal with human rights in the network.

“The main goals of the White Internet will be to popularize the legal culture, ideas of integrity and law-abidingness in the digital sphere, increase the level of digital culture and digital hygiene of the population, expand legal guarantees for protecting the rights of citizens and businesses in the field of digital technologies,” Sidorenko said.

At the same time, the general director of the White Internet noted that Russia should not follow the path of China, where blocks have been set for most foreign network services as part of the sovereign Internet program. Instead of forbidding, it is better to teach people the correct behavior on the network, the expert noted.

In addition to cyberbullying, she called network fraud another problem for the Russian segment of the Internet. Cybercrimes in Russia are increasing from year to year. So, last year, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 522.1 thousand illegal actions were recorded on the network – 0.8% more than in 2021.

According to the Bank of Russia, the amount of stolen funds from the accounts of citizens without the consent of the client amounted to 14.2 billion rubles. As Elina Sidorenko noted, all groups of the population become victims of cyber fraud, regardless of gender, age and social status.

Moreover, if the number of crimes using “live” plastic cards is reduced, then the theft of money using Internet technologies, on the contrary, becomes almost a third more. And the facts of illegal access to computer information, including the theft of personal data and passwords, showed an explosive growth of 196% compared to last year’s figures.

In order not to become victims of scammers on the network, Elina Sidorenko advises to follow simple rules:

– Don’t talk to strangers. Set a purchase limit on your bank card. As soon as someone tries to make a purchase from your account for an amount exceeding the limit, the bank will immediately call you. In fact, banks are very actively involved in this work. A bank employee will determine your psychological state, and you will have those cherished two or three minutes to recover after talking with a scammer, the expert advises.

ANO “White Internet” in addition to educational work will also work to create a legal infrastructure for digitalization.

“We will develop security standards in the digital sphere, prepare projects to improve digital literacy and develop standards for educational projects within the framework of the statutory tasks,” the White Internet CEO emphasized.