Cyberbullying is the intent to offend, threaten, block or harass others by using technical devices such as the internet and mobile phones. The perpetrator - also called "bully" - is seeking a victim who cannot defend himself against the attacks. Therefore, there is an imbalance between the offender and the victim, which is exploited by the perpetrator, while the victim is socially isolated. Cyberbullying takes place on the internet (e.g. in social networks, video portals, etc.) and via smartphones (e.g. by instant messaging applications like WhatsApp). Often, the bully is anonymous, so the victim does not know from whom exactly the attacks are coming. Cyberbullying among children and adolescents, however, is often associated with the personal “offline” environment, such as the school, the residential district, the village or the ethnic community. Hence, the victims are usually suspicious about who is behind the threats.

Moreover, cyberbullying is often accompanied by bullying in the offline world – in some cases bullying starts online and continues offline in school, or vice versa. Therefore, in most cases, bullying and cyberbullying cannot be seen as separate issues.

Trust Me is a resource designed by Childnet to support primary and secondary school teachers in exploring critical thinking online. Developed in partnership with the London Grid for Learning to address the emerging area of online extremism and propaganda, this practical resource aims to provoke discussion among pupils so as to challenge them to think critically about what they see on websites and social media as well as the communication they have with others online. 

While critical thinking is undoubtedly important, children and young people also need the social and emotional skill set to put cognitive learning into practice and make behavioural change happen. In Module 3 on cyberbullying, we talked in great detail about the ENABLE project, which combats bullying and contributes to the well-being of young people aged 11-14 through social and emotional development and peer education.

We also introduced the Web We Want chapter My well-being and yours: Respect… begins with me!, which provides some further ideas on how to tackle online hate speech and radicalisation with your pupils.

The term counterspeech refers to responses or content that is created to counter a range of extremisms and hate speech online. A counter-narrative is a tool to challenge the ideologies, narratives and stories of violent extremists. The purpose of a counter-narrative is to discredit, deconstruct and demystify extremist messages. It can do this by using logical or factual arguments, or using satire and humour. They can be as specific or nuanced, as direct or indirect as the person or group creating them wants to make them.

In the video below, Dr Erin Saltman from the Institute of Strategic Dialogue (ISD) talks in further detail about counter-speech and counter-narratives.

Within Europe, the most visible campaign against online hate and extremism has surely been the No Hate Speech Movement. The No Hate Speech Movement is a youth campaign of the Council of Europe for human rights online, whose aim is to reduce the acceptance of hate speech and to develop online youth participation and citizenship, including in Internet governance processes. It comes with an excellent publication – Bookmarks: A manual for combating hate speech online through human rights education – which is designed to support the educational work that will enable young people to find their own ways of addressing and coping with hate speech online. Below, we have already included ten do’s and don’ts from the handbook, to give you some immediate inspiration.