The report from the research project EU Kids Online, in which 25,000 children from 25 countries were interviewed, showed that Norwegian children and adolescents are often visitng websites encouraging hatred against groups of people, anorexia, self-harm and suicide.
According to Norwegian daily Aftenbladet, the European Commission and stakeholders from all over Europe will meet to discuss the issue this week. Researcher Elisabeth Staksrud said this alarming statistics is partially due to the fact that the Norwegian children have the highest access to handheld devices and smart phones in Europe.
The survey shows that 16 percent of Norwegian children between 11 and 16 have been on websites about self harm. 9 percent of children in this age group visit websites that show how to commit suicide. Also, 31 percent have been on websites that cultivates hatred against other ethnic groups. 47 percent of boys and 42 percent of girls between 14 and 16 years have been on hate pages.
