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The digital world holds opportunities, but also dangers and risks in the form both of legal and illegal content and activities that can endanger and harm minors in their psychological, physical and/or sexual integrity and development.
Parents should monitor their children closely as they take their first steps on the Internet. Experts recommend that parents show interest in their child’s Internet activities, use technological aids and pay attention to their own media behaviour, because children learn by example.
Further information on promoting and strengthening the media literacy of minors:
The Youth and Media platform supports parents and professionals in providing minors with knowledgeable support in media use – so that they can use digital media safely and responsibly.
Youth and Media flyer:
Dangers and risks for minors in the digital space
An explanation of the various terms and phenomena, recommendations for ways to protect children and further information and assistance are available here:
«Sharenting» is a portmanteau of the words «sharing» and «parenting» and refers to the growing phenomenon of parents posting and sharing photos of their children online.
Although many parents like to share what’s going on in their own everyday lives and see how other parents go about managing and coping with their children, revealing too much can be tricky and carries some risks. Because once the footage has been published, all control over it is lost. For sharing and posting pictures and videos of minors, it’s recommended to follow these guiding principles:
Respect the privacy of the child
Even pre-school children know if they like a photo or not. Primary-school children don’t necessarily find the same things funny that their parents do, and when they reach their teens at the latest, they might protest loudly. It’s advisable to involve children from the age of six or seven in the decision of whether to make photos available to a wider public. Of course, please also respect the opinion of children who are even younger.
Protect the privacy of the child
Social-media accounts should be set to «private» to prevent non-followers from seeing pictures and videos. But followers can also take screenshots of private accounts and distribute them. There’s never absolute security on the Internet and social media. The child’s personal information (name, age, place of residence, school, membership in associations) should never be revealed.
Be aware of the dangers and risks
There are many dangers and risks that can come from sharing photos. Image material can be edited inappropriately, misused to create fake profiles, used for bullying or cyber-grooming and lead to psychological stress for children and adolescents.
More information is available from Pro Juventute and Kinderschutz Schweiz (Child Protection Switzerland), where a checklist for sharing images is available.
When one or more individuals intentionally insult, threaten, embarrass or harass another person via the Internet (e.g., via mobile) over a longer period of time, this is called cyberbullying. Specifically, it involves the following:
Spreading false information and rumours
Distributing and uploading embarrassing, falsified, revealing or pornographic photos and videos
Creating (offensive) fake profiles
Insulting, harassing, threatening and blackmailing via email, SMS, etc.
Establishing hate groups that allow negative statements to be made about individuals, much like a guest book.
Parents should support their children in acquiring social and media skills and talk to them about the opportunities and dangers of the Internet. They should encourage their children to confide in them and explain that they can and should talk to them if they’re being bullied on social media or notice that others are being bullied. Experts recommend addressing the issue of cyberbullying, even if parents themselves aren’t the most expert in using technological devices.
If a child is affected by cyberbullying, parents should discuss the cyberbullying case with adult caregivers, the class teacher and/or with the school social service. It’s important to keep evidence of cyberbullying attacks by taking screenshots of websites and storing chat histories, SMS, usernames and the like. If the cyberbullying attack doesn’t stop after contacting the persons involved and their adult caregivers, experts recommend seeking external help, such as a victim-support centre or a youth-counselling centre in the canton.
Further information and assistance is available on the platforms of the Schweizerische Kriminalprävention (SKP, Swiss Crime Prevention) service and at Youth and Media.
Support for those affected is available from cantonal youth-counselling centres or from Opferhilfe (Assistance to victims of criminal offences).
The term cyber-grooming is short for sexual child grooming. Cyber-grooming occurs when an adult establishes contact with children or adolescents online over a longer period of time with the intention of receiving sexual images and favours and/or forcing sexual abuse.
It is characteristic that the adult builds up manipulatively a relationship of trust and closeness, so that the affected minors become emotionally dependent. The adults often hide behind fake profiles and pretend to be young themselves in order to contact children or adolescents more easily. They use deliberate strategies to gain the trust of minors (e.g., showing interest in the same hobbies, imitating their language style) with the aim of obtaining photos and videos with sexual content.
Groomers move in the same online circles as minors: online games, social media and chat rooms.
Sextortion
Cyber-grooming can also frequently lead to cases of sextortion, in which perpetrators try to obtain more and more images from children and adolescents by putting the victims under immense pressure and, for example, blackmailing them with images they have already received.
The term sextortion is made up of the words sex and extortion. Sextortion refers to a method of blackmail in which a person is blackmailed with image and video material that shows them performing sexual acts (masturbation) and/or naked.
To protect children from cyber-grooming and sextortion, please ensure that children don’t share any personal information such as their name, age, school or clubs online, especially on social media. Experts recommend only sharing online what one would share with strangers in the real world. Parents should discuss their children’s profiles on the various platforms and explain the differences between public and private profile settings. Together, they should review the privacy settings on the social platforms to ensure that profiles with a lot of personal information are set to «private», so that only friends and approved followers can see the posts or interact with the child.
It’s important to talk to children about the phenomena of cyber-grooming and sextortion to make them aware that there are people on the Internet who don’t have good intentions and that profiles, including those of other children, can be fake. Children should be particularly careful with contact requests from strangers. Parents can discuss and work on defence strategies together with their children so that they have something to fall back on in an emergency. Sentences like «I don’t want that!» or «I’m going to report you!» can have a deterrent effect.
If a child is affected by cyber-grooming and/or sextortion, parents should never make accusations towards them, but rather show that they’re on the child’s side. Sexualised violence against children and adolescents is never their fault, neither online nor offline. Parents should not give in to any demands, such as sending pictures or money. If an incident occurs, parents should go to the police immediately and register a formal complaint.
Further information and assistance can be found on the platforms of «Kinderschutz Schweiz (Child Protection Switzerland)», «Click and Stop» and the Schweizerische Kriminalprävention (Swiss Crime Prevention, SKP).
Click and Stop also offers personal advice via phone, chat or a contact form.
The possession and dissemination of images in which human dignity is seriously violated is prohibited by law in Switzerland.
In this context, the law in Switzerland specifies several forms of pornography, the possession and/or distribution of which is generally punishable.
Pornographic depictions with children and adolescents (under 16 years of age), pornographic depictions with animals and pornographic depictions associated with acts of violence are all prohibited.
The dissemination or publication of all other forms of (legal) pornography to persons under the age of 16 is also prohibited in Switzerland.
The possession and dissemination of cruel acts of violence without a pornographic reference (e.g., executions) is also punishable.
Sunrise works closely together with the relevant authorities to block access to illegal content in the digital space as soon as it is identified.
In order to combat illegal content, screenshots should never be taken or illegal image and video material stored, forwarded or edited. The possession and sharing of such images are prohibited, as is their creation. Experts recommend avoiding the receipt of pictures and videos sent for the purpose of saving them on a mobile phone as evidence.
Instead, contact professional counselling centres and, if necessary, teachers, the responsible school authorities and the cantonal police authority.
Illegal image or video material can be reported anonymously via a form from the Federal Office of Police (fedpol) or alternatively via the non-profit organisation Clickandstop.ch.