Week 9-
NSPCC records 88% rise in children seeking help for online abuse
The number of children and young people tormented by online trolls has increased by 88% in five years, according to a report by a leading children’s charity.
The NSPCC study shows that the charity’s helpline service, ChildLine, counselled 4,541 children about online bullying in 2015-16, compared with 2,410 in 2011-12.
The findings follow recent figures that showed that almost a quarter of a million children and young people are receiving help from NHS mental health services for problems such as anxiety, depression and eating disorders.
To coincide with the start of anti-bullying week, the NSPCC said that in a quarter of its counselling sessions children and young people were also given help with mental health and wellbeing issues including low self-esteem, self-harm, suicidal thoughts and depression.
Children as young as seven told ChildLine counsellors how they were being tormented and abused by malicious and hurtful messages from which they felt there was no escape. The comments posted on their social media profiles, blogs and online pictures ranged from bullying and abusive words about the way they looked to death threats and even being told to kill themselves.
Facebook’s failure: did fake news and polarized politics get Trump elected?
“If I were to run, I’d run as a Republican. They are the dumbest group of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they’d still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific.”
Many Guardian readers will have seen this quote, attributed to a 1998 interview with Donald Trump in People magazine, in their Facebook news feed.
It’s a great quote, but he never said it.
It typifies the kind of fake news and misinformation that has plagued the 2016 election on an unprecedented scale. In the wake of the surprise election of Donald Trump as president of the United States, pressure is growing on Facebook to not only tackle the problem but also to find ways to encourage healthier discourse between people with different political views.
Rather than connecting people – as Facebook’s euphoric mission statement claims – the bitter polarization of the social network over the last eighteen months suggests Facebook is actually doing more to divide the world.
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