A fifth of Spanish children risk internet grooming

A fifth of Spanish children risk internet grooming

A FIFTH of Spanish children risk internet grooming. They have been in contact with adults hoping to involve them in sexual activities.

This shock statistic was announced by Andre Conde, executive director of Save the Children, who revealed that a quarter had suffered some kind of online violence in the shape of coercion, blackmail or cyber-bullying.

“Half of our children and adolescents are receiving content of a sexual or violent nature and four out of every 10 children in Spain are being harassed and humiliated on the social and digital media,” Conde said.

The organisation’s Violencia Viral maintained that children and adolescents are exposed to adults posing as children who use “blackmail and trickery” to obtain compromising sexual images from them.

Resending sexually-explicit messages and images is another type of online violence to which Spain’s young are subjected, revenge-porn behaviour learned from adults, the Violencia Viral report warned.

Conde advised parents to teach children to use the internet sensibly while using parental control apps to protect, although this was not a foolproof solution, he admitted.

“Online limitations and prohibitions can generate hidden use,” he said.