Almost a third of all students aged seven to 15 years have received rude or inappropriate messages over their devices, while 15 per cent of children experienced some form of online abuse, according to the latest data.

From insulting comments such as “qisek baqra u inti hadt ma jhobbok. Lanqas ommok u missierek” (you’re a cow and nobody loves you, not even your mum or dad), to sadistic comments such as “go kill yourself”, online abuse is prevalent among schoolchildren.

The survey was conducted by Misco International between May and June 2023 among 387 children in Years 3 to 11 across Malta’s schools, and commissioned by the Malta Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society as part of its Promote Online Protection Project — P.O.P-Up.

The findings show that 32 per cent of children have received unwanted messages, with an overwhelming 30 per cent of these unsolicited messages being hate mail.

The study also found that 11 per cent of students aged 11 to 13 spend more than six hours a day online, while 18 per cent of children aged seven to 10 years spend more than three hours connected.

With youngsters spending more and more time in the virtual world, the Malta Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society wanted to get an insight into the risks youngsters faced online.

Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, MFWS chair and Eurochild president, said: “Children are facing abuse online at all times of the day, right under the very eyes of parents and guardians… Children are vulnerable to exploitation and we cannot be complacent in the face of this traumatic situation.”

Speaking together with Education Minister Clinton Grima at the launch of the survey results this morning, Ms Coleiro Preca stressed that while initiatives existed to limit online abuse, the MFWS was focused on a proactive and preventive approach to this “horrendous challenge”.

Dr Grima also emphasised the duty and responsibility of parents and educators to safeguard children, especially since technological devices were reaching younger and younger kids.

“The digital world is growing at a rapid rate, making our children’s protection in the online world even more vital. I thank all those behind today’s initiative and assure that the ministry will lend its support to measures to safeguard our children,” he said.

The press conference was also addressed by EU Parliament Intergroup for Children’s Rights secretary general Emilio Puccio and United Nations International Telecommunications Union (UN ITU) regional director Jaroslaw Ponder.

Mr Ponder said: “Over 10 years now, ITU has been dedicated to supporting countries across the world to address child online protection and ensure all children can fully benefit from the wonders of the online environment. The Malta Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society and its P.O.P-Up project, led by HE Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, is a great example of how a multi-stakeholders, holistic approach can tackle the topic.

“It provides a concrete model of approaches that can be replicated in countries of Europe and beyond. The ITU Europe office applauds this initiative and is pleased to support its success, in particular with the training of some 100 trainers on child online protection in the country.”

These specifically tailored training sessions for psychosocial teams within Malta’s state, church and private schools have been taking place all throughout this week.

Apart from this, the Education Ministry and MFWS last year carried out a pilot training project among educators at St Benedict’s College and Maria Regina College.

The goal of the P.O.P-Up project is multi-pronged and the MFWS is working hand-in-hand with stakeholders focused on protecting youngsters from online abuse to ensure efforts are not replicated.

The MFWS is also collaborating with the UN ITU to prepare guidelines — translated into Maltese by the University of Malta’s Translation Department — which will be distributed to schools’ psychosocial teams, stakeholders, policymakers, guardians, educators and the children themselves.

Presenting the findings, P.O.P-Up project manager Antonella Gatt said when online, younger children were more likely to play games, while older children tended to chat with friends and do school-related work.

Worryingly, nine per cent of seven- to 10-year-olds chatted with strangers and 46 per cent of this age group surfed the internet while alone.

Of the 15 per cent of all children questioned who came face to face with online abuse, 83 per cent experienced cyberbullying, 54 per cent emotional abuse, and 26 per cent endured abuse of a sexual nature.

Asked to write down some the situations they encountered, children’s comments ranged from “people telling me to send inappropriate pictures or there will be consequences”, to people “wanting sugar babies” or receiving “pictures showing other people’s privates and asking for mine”.

An encouraging factor that emerged was that 76 per cent of all schoolchildren questioned said they had heard of online abuse. There is a slightly higher awareness among males when compared to females. Analysing results by age groups, 59 per cent of children aged seven to 10, 91 per cent of 11 to 13-year-olds, and 94 per cent of those aged 14 years and over were aware of online abuse.

The most popular social media platform among schoolchildren is TikTok (40 per cent), followed by Facebook (30 per cent), Instagram (29 per cent), and Snap Chat (28 per cent). Older children are more likely to use communication technology with 70 per cent of those aged 14 to 16 using WhatsApp.

Misco’s study, whose sample size has a margin of error of +/- 5.1 per cent was designed by the MFWS in collaboration with expert Prof. Valerie Sollars and was submitted to the Ethics Committee within the Directorate for Research, Lifelong Learning and Employability, the Education Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, and the Secretariat for Catholic Education within the Archdiocese of Malta for approval.

State, Church and independent schools were also contacted for their approval, while parental or guardian consent sought before the students answered the questionnaire.

Ms Gatt said: “It is up to the concerted effort of each and every one of us to safeguard our children from online abuse to ensure tomorrow’s generation can avail themselves from a safe internet environment, which is crucial for the well-being of our children and society at large.”