Bullying and cyberbullying on the rise: the numbers in Europe. Experts: report it

Two areas that, for the president of the juvenile court, are 'contiguous'. "Often a member of the group films the aggression carried out by the group of bullies against a peer and then puts the film on the net,' she argues, 'thus adding to the physical pain suffered by the offended person as a result of the aggression, the psychic pain deriving from the humiliation produced by the knowledge of the film by classmates and others.

Yet there is a way out. And d is the one that one must take, overcoming even shame. "Personally, I advise the victims of these hateful and widespread phenomena not to isolate themselves and to talk to someone they trust in order to be supported and helped in filing a complaint. I represent that it is important to document the events, noting the dates, places and all possible details so that the complaint can be substantiated. I advise families to provide their child victims with appropriate professional support and deep understanding'.

In this context, a role must be played by all parties involved. "The phenomenon remains a major challenge, requiring a choral commitment on the part of institutions, families and communities," he continues. "Only adequate education on respect for others, even if different from oneself, can stem the phenomenon, and this respect must be taught as a priority in the family, also by providing children with positive examples, because an ounce of example is worth more than a pound of words.

On the victims' side there are also regulations, as President Brunese points out. This is 'Law 71 of 2017, which provides measures to protect victims, such as the possibility of asking the operator to obscure images that humiliate or threaten the offended person and, if this protection is not implemented within 48 hours of the report, to turn to the Privacy Guarantor to obtain it, and which obliges schools to adopt prevention policies'.

Watching the phenomenon 'very carefully' is the scientific community. It is no coincidence that Emilio Lupo, psychiatrist and national head of the association Psichiatria democratica speaks of 'phenomena that should not be underestimated'. "This is a complex and delicate issue, and it particularly marks the lives of young people and adolescents, they rely on and suffer on social networks the brutality of derision and stigma that touches the intimacy of the person," says the psychiatrist. "Real relationships are less and less meaningful, and the dissatisfaction and loneliness, the difficulty of relating, and the need to appear, to be recognised and appreciated by the media community, is increasingly spasmodic".

For the head of Psichiatria democratica, 'Carlo Levi's warning is even stronger and more topical: "Words are stones" which, if used with malice, cause suffering, tear and offend with the taste of destroying and hurting the other, denied in his dignity as a person, perceived as something to be humiliated. Thus a condition is established that is repeated and becomes torment and that has no limits, no respite. These are words that hurt more than stones and that wound the already fragile souls of our young people struggling with their often desperate loneliness'.

According to the *2024 Report on School Bullying* by the ANAR Foundation and the Mutua Madrileña Foundation, 9.4% of Spanish students are victims of bullying and/or cyberbullying. The survey involved 9,302 pupils and 454 teachers from 194 schools in five regions: Madrid, Valencia, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha and the Balearic Islands.

In-person bullying is the most common (6.5%), followed by cyberbullying (1.1%) and mixed cases (1.8%). 49.8% of assaults occur in groups, with a higher incidence among males (62.4%). Online, the most involved platforms are WhatsApp (71.9%), Instagram (44.8%) and TikTok (41.7%). In one out of five cases, artificial intelligence is involved.

Spanish institutions are strengthening preventive measures. The Ministry of Education has dedicated protocols, while the National Police carried out more than 31 thousand information activities in the last school year. Asturias, in particular, will be the first autonomous community to compulsorily adopt the Peer Tutoring Programme (TEI) in all public and affiliated schools from 2025/2026. The project, based on emotional intelligence and positive psychology, includes specific training for teachers and students, peer mentoring and involvement of the entire school community.

Since 2016, ANAR and Mutua Madrileña have been promoting anti-bullying workshops: 514 were held in the last year alone. In addition, the AEPAE association uses the TEBAE computer test to identify risk situations and is part of the European Anti-Bullying Network (EAN), which unites 22 organisations in 15 countries.

According to the International Student Health and Lifestyle Survey conducted in more than 40 countries and updated in Lithuania in 2022, cyberbullying is on the rise despite a decline in physical bullying. Out of more than 6 thousand students surveyed in 124 schools, 36% of boys and 17% of girls admitted to bullying someone online at least once in the past few months. In contrast, 30% of boys and 20% of girls said they had been cyberbullied.

Experts point out the pervasive and continuous nature of digital bullying: the network is a public space from which one cannot distance oneself, where humiliating content can spread rapidly and reach large audiences, with serious psychological consequences. Phenomena such as 'diffusion of responsibility' also prevent viewers from intervening. The expression refers to the psychological phenomenon whereby when many people witness misbehaviour, no one intervenes because they all think someone else will.

The psychologist of the 'Vaikų linija' (Children's Line), J. S. Jasiulionė, emphasises how AI is exacerbating the problem by allowing the creation of fake but believable content (such as compromising photos), while the normalisation of bullying as 'humour' or 'roasting' prevents its violence from being recognised. Adults, and especially public figures, have a great responsibility to define the boundaries between joking and offending, and must act as role models.

Early adult intervention is crucial: bullying, online as well as offline, often stems from toxic social norms and unmet emotional needs. Collaboration between parents, schools and peers is essential to prevent, recognise and effectively counteract such behaviour.

In the Czech Republic there are still no comprehensive official data on bullying among minors. The only available information concerns cases with serious physical outcomes, suicides attributable to bullying (20-25 per year) and a growing public perception of the phenomenon. Only recently has the government introduced an obligation for schools to systematically monitor and report all cases, and the first comprehensive data will arrive in the next few years.

The public debate is often fuelled by extreme incidents filmed with mobile phones and spread online. After one such incident, the Ministry of Education sent schools a handbook with guidelines on prevention, communication with families and students, cooperation with the police and setting up crisis teams. By 2027, every school should have a full-time psychologist and three nationwide rapid intervention teams will be in place.

Some psychologists point out that the impression of an increase in bullying could be linked to a greater sensitivity and ability to recognise the problem on the part of teachers. But one concrete development is worrying: the emergence of local online communities, often on TikTok, where children share videos of bullying incidents and incite each other. Law enforcement agencies are already taking action to counter the phenomenon.

*This article is part of the European collaborative journalism project "Pulse"