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Young men in the North West most likely
in the UK to say they'd report online child sex abuse imagery
41% of young men in the North West say they'd report
online images of child sexual abuse to an internet watchdog or hotline, if they
accidentally stumbled on them.
That's according to a new survey, published 1 August, 2017, commissioned by the
Internet Watch Foundation, for a joint campaign aimed at raising awareness of
internet safety with soccer giants Everton Football Club.
The report, from the polling company ComRes, looked at the attitudes of young
men across the UK, aged 16 to 24, to online safety. Data in the survey reveals
differences in attitudes across regions and nations, including:-
► Young men in the North West are the most likely to say that if they
accidentally found images and videos showing child sexual abuse online, they
would report it to an internet watchdog or hotline. 41% of young men in the
North West say they would do this, compared to 29% in Yorkshire and Humberside,
for example.
► 22% of young men have heard of the IWF in the North West, just 13% say the
same in Yorkshire and Humberside.
► Young men in the North West are amongst the most likely to say they think
cyber bullying is 1 of the biggest issues on the internet, with 55% stating
this. 40% say they think this issue has increased over the last 12 months.
► 53% of young men in the North West say they think the best way to describe
consent is:- 'you have to have the other person's permission,' more than
any other region.
The ComRes survey has been published to support the:- 'See
it, Report it'
campaign which kicked off at an Everton Football Club fixture. The campaign was
designed to have 2 elements:- firstly, raising awareness of the work of IWF's
anonymous reporting Hotline, which takes reports and removes criminal images and
video of child sexual abuse from the internet. Secondly, and in a 1st for
British football, to trial a ground breaking online safety workshop 'Game
On',
across Everton Football Club's youth teams and wider footballing community,
including staff and participants at the Club's award winning charity, Everton in
the Community.
The central aim of the project was to tackle online issues of inappropriate
sexualised behaviours, as well as educate young men to the dangers of being
online, through a series of targeted educational workshops.
Susie Hargreaves OBE, IWF CEO, says:- "It's incredibly positive that
nationally over 40% of young men say that they would report it, if they
accidently stumbled on child sexual abuse imagery online. But we need to get
that message out to more young people; and let them know that they can report
these disturbing illegal images to our Hotline, anonymously. Working with
Everton FC has been amazing; they've been pioneers in online safety education.
The support Everton has across the globe, has the potential to influence tens of
thousands of young men. And by running these workshops, our goal to educate
these young players to keep themselves cyber safe and in turn spread the
positive online safeguarding message has been a real success."
Adam Green, Head of Safeguarding, Everton Football Club, says:- "This is a
unique safeguarding initiative and we're proud to be the 1st club to partner
with the IWF. At Everton, we have a history of putting safeguarding 1st, both
for our young players and in the wider Everton community. This project takes
that message one step further, we want to help young men develop appropriate
relationship behaviours, both online and offline. And, in a complex online
world, we want to help keep our young players, staff and community participants
safe."
The 'Game On' project has been supported by an Advisory Board made up
from leading charities and online safety experts. The work of the project has
been fully evaluated by ComRes.
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