Young peoples’ rates of reporting online harassment and abuse are ’shockingly low’

text - Young people aged 12 to 18 are unlikely to report receiving, or being asked to share, non-consensual sexual images to their school, parents or social media platforms such as Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram, finds a major new report led by UCL. The findings, launched today by the UCL Institute of Education, the University of Kent, the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) and the School of Sexuality Education, show that teenage girls are overwhelmingly affected by the impact of unwanted image-sharing and that the practice has become 'dangerously normalised' for many young people. The study involved 480 young people from across the UK - 366 via an online survey, with a further 144 participating in in-depth focus groups. From the survey findings, just over half of participants (51% - 54/106) who had received unwanted sexual content online or had their image shared without their consent reported doing nothing. When asked why they didn't report the incident, around a third of people said 'I don't think reporting works'. Among young people who said they had received unwanted sexual content online or had their image shared without their consent, 25% told a friend (27/106), 17% (18/106) reported issues to social media platforms, 5% (5/106) to parents and just 2% (2/106) to their school. Of the 88 girls taking part in the focus groups, 75% (66) said they had received an image of male genitals, with the majority 'not asked for' or 'unwanted '.