Hate speech, loss of control over AI and privacy. The concerns of young people in Europe

Exposure to harmful content is a significant aspect of children’s online experiences, with variations from country to country. Thirty per cent encounter hate speech at least once a month, ranging from 15 per cent in Ireland to 40 per cent in Serbia. Girls generally report higher levels of exposure than boys, with 60 per cent of girls and 55 per cent of boys having encountered hate speech across the various countries. Respondents also report being exposed to a range of potentially harmful online content. Violent or gory images are the most commonly reported category (40 per cent), followed by content on how to lose weight (39 per cent) and how to harm oneself physically (37 per cent), whilst suicide is the least frequently reported category among those analysed (25 per cent). Looking specifically at content on how to harm oneself physically, 15 per cent of young people say they have seen such content at least once a month, and a further 24 per cent have seen it on a few occasions (ranging from 6 per cent in Ireland to 24 per cent in Belgium and the Czech Republic).
These expectations, concerns and hopes among young people suggest a number of priorities for policymakers, including reducing the environmental costs of AI, ensuring human oversight in every algorithmic and AI process, designing safer, more private digital spaces and technologies that empower young people, and devising different online safety measures, as there is no single ‘European digital childhood’.

Giovanna Mascheroni, the Italian representative for EU Kids Online and a lecturer in Digital Media and Society at the Catholic University, highlights some Italian figures that give cause for reflection: ‘Only 19 per cent of Italian teenagers and children say they feel safe online: this is the lowest figure in Europe and well below the European average (48 per cent). Only 14% believe that there are kind and helpful people online. The fact that the online climate in our country is particularly negative is also evident from the figures relating to the presence of hate speech, racist and discriminatory content: the percentage of respondents who encounter hate speech is higher than the European average, and lower only than in Belgium, Serbia and Finland. Italia is also second only to Romania in terms of the number of teenagers and children who intentionally seek out hateful content.
Although the majority of children (58 per cent) know what to do when someone behaves in ways they do not approve of online, only 19 per cent of Italian children aged 10–16 say they feel safe online (compared with 48 per cent of the overall European sample). Gender differences are significant (only 13 per cent of Italian girls feel safe online, compared with 24 per cent of boys). Differences linked to age, gender and socio-economic status also emerge in terms of exposure to risks.

Intentional exposure to hate content is higher in Italia (15 per cent) than the European average (10 per cent), particularly amongst young people, 15- to 16-year-olds and children from lower socio-economic backgrounds. The number of children and adolescents who felt upset (disturbed, uncomfortable or frightened) by something they experienced online has risen further since 2018: in fact, in line with the European average, 22 per cent said they had felt upset in the last month. Although the most common risk is exposure to harmful user-generated content (72 per cent) or hate speech (62 per cent), it is also significant that 51 per cent of Italian children now report having been treated in an offensive or unpleasant manner, both online and in person. Girls are more likely to be victims of bullying and to be exposed to hateful content.

Socio-digital inequalities are systematic and persistent, particularly with regard to digital literacy: girls (38 per cent), 11–12-year-old boys (40 per cent) and children from lower socio-economic backgrounds (34 per cent) are less likely than boys (50 per cent), 15–16-year-olds (55 per cent) and children from higher socio-economic backgrounds (46 per cent), to say that they are able to check whether the information they find online is true.
The full EU Kids Online report can be downloaded via this link: https://www.lse.ac.uk/media-and-communications/research/research-projects/eu-kids-online/reports-and-findings/Comparative2026

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