Digital violence in young people’s lives

Hardly any group is online as much and as naturally as young people. Social media, gaming, and messengers are not an add-on for them but part of their everyday lives – they are the group that spends the most time online. But that is exactly what also makes them the most vulnerable group: because of their age and their developmental phase, they are especially exposed to the violence that takes place on digital platforms.

Digital violence appears in different constellations: among peers – for example when an image shared in confidence circulates in the class chat – or through adults who deliberately seek contact with young people in order to manipulate or exploit them. A third group is often overlooked: young people who are not themselves targeted but witness what is happening. As bystanders, they see screenshots, are present in group chats, and read along when hate is spread. Their behavior helps determine whether violence intensifies or is stopped. Adults can strengthen them to respond safely.

Hate speech covers any statement or content that insults, demeans or discriminates against a person or group on the basis of particular aspects of their identity, such as ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or religion.

If a message doesn’t specifically target one of these characteristics but is still insulting, threatening or vulgar, it is referred to as toxic content.

In young people’s everyday lives, both occur mainly in group chats, on social media and in gaming. Toxic language is often normalised (‘it was just a joke’). Hate speech pushes young people who are targeted into withdrawing and staying silent (‘silencing’). It disproportionately affects girls and young people who experience discrimination.

Tips for professionals

Not every insult is hate speech, but both should be taken seriously. Incidents should be documented and addressed with the group. Young people who are affected need support and clear, practical ways to report what has happened. And where incidents are brushed off as a joke, that is exactly what is worth discussing, including how it relates to discrimination.

Bullying means that someone is repeatedly and deliberately attacked, torn down, or excluded by one or more people. This can happen over a longer period or arise within a short time. When it takes place using digital means, it is cyberbullying. Children and young people are especially often affected. Cyberbullying can take place anywhere people communicate with one another online.

Unlike offline bullying, online a single incident is often enough. Published content spreads quickly, gets shared further, and remains permanently accessible – even in one’s own home. The burden is correspondingly high: anxiety, depressive feelings, reduced self-confidence, sleep or eating problems, up to suicidal thoughts. On top of this, online and offline can rarely be separated: those affected by cyberbullying often also experience offline bullying.

Forms: Spreading false information and rumors · humiliating, insulting, excluding, e.g., in group chats · publishing embarrassing, manipulated, or sexualized photos and videos without consent · creating fake profiles with hurtful content · insults, threats, and extortion via private or public messages · hate speech.

Tips for professionals

How the conversation with the affected person is conducted in an individual case is for the responsible professionals to decide. What is central, though: listen and take it seriously. Digital violence is real violence.

• Listen attentively and without prejudice.
• Assure the affected person that they are not to blame.
• Ask about their needs, offer support, or refer them to a trusted person.
• Preserve evidence: screenshots of messages, posts, or accounts (with date and time). Caution with sexualized depictions of minors: saving or forwarding them is a criminal offense. Save only the URL, or go directly to the police with the device.
• Report content to the platforms.
• Make sure the affected person does not have to fear sanctions, such as having their phone taken away or being blamed for their own behavior.
• Support them with privacy settings and targeted blocking.
• Do not make decisions over the affected person’s head; look for solutions together.
• Analyze the situation: different measures depending on the case; take the various roles (person bullied, person bullying, bystanders) into account.
• Provide long-term support: deleted content can resurface, and the psychological consequences often persist for a long time.

Intimate or sexualized images and videos are created, stored, altered, or distributed without consent – increasingly with the help of AI, for example in the form of deepfakes. An image that was created in confidence, or a publicly accessible photo, is used, altered, or distributed against the will of the person depicted. What is decisive here: even faked or AI-generated content has real, often serious effects on those affected. When children or young people are affected, the content is always criminally relevant as well.

Forms: Forwarding without consent · covert recording · deepfakes · sextortion (extortion with intimate content) · sexualized assaults in chats or livestreams.

Tips for professionals

How the conversation is conducted in an individual case is for the professionals themselves to decide. What remains central: Listen. Take it seriously. Digital violence is real violence.

• With sexualized depictions of children or young people, even saving such content is a criminal offense. Hand over affected devices directly to the police if possible; do not forward or save anything yourself.
• Preserve content (no downloads, but URL, date, platform, sender).
• Report content to the platform.
• Report content to a specialized agency (fedpol and clickandstop.ch for minors).
• Depending on the situation, involve a specialized agency or the police.

Cybergrooming is when adults deliberately seek contact with children or young people online in order to sexually exploit them. Contact can arise via social media, messengers, online games, chats, or livestreams. Frequently the perpetrators pretend to be someone else or give the impression of being young themselves. Often the contact begins harmlessly: the perpetrator is attentive, gives compliments, or pretends to share common interests. They portray the relationship as special and exclusive, demand secrecy, and thus gradually create emotional dependency.

Over time, the conversations become more personal and sexualized, for example through questions about sexual experiences or requests for intimate recordings. In return, money, gifts, or other advantages may be promised. Intimate recordings later often serve as a means of pressure for further demands or for extortion. Not infrequently, perpetrators also try to arrange an in-person meeting.

Forms: deliberately building trust · sexualized chats · requests for intimate recordings · requests for sexual acts in front of the webcam · arranging an in-person meeting · repeated attempts at contact despite rejection.

Tips for professionals

What is central is an attitude that creates safety: listen, take it seriously, and do not place blame. Cybergrooming is often bound up with shame, fear, or feelings of guilt.

• Do not react with accusations.
• Make clear: The responsibility lies with the perpetrator. The affected person is not to blame.
• Do not confront the perpetrator yourself.
• With sexualized depictions of children or young people: Saving or forwarding them is a criminal offense. Hand over affected devices directly to the police.
• Preserve the URL, username, platform, date, and messages as evidence.
• Report cybergrooming to the police.
• Point out that no further image material should be sent.
• If possible, delete or block accounts or content only after consulting the police.
• Use specialized agencies such as Take It Down (takeitdown.ncmec.org).

Radicalisation and extremism: what are they?

The two terms are often confused, but they mean different things. Radicalisation is a process, temporary or lasting, in which a person moves towards extreme positions and becomes increasingly open to violence. Extremism, by contrast, refers to ideologies that claim an absolute truth, reject democracy and human rights, and justify violence.

Extremism affects people of all ages, but young people are particularly vulnerable. Social media and online platforms are now key drivers of radicalisation. Algorithms amplify divisive content, online communities offer a sense of belonging, and influencers make extreme ideas seem normal. This can happen quickly and often goes unnoticed by those around them.

It is also important to distinguish between different forms of extremism. Some movements direct their violence at property or infrastructure. Others target people or groups directly, because of their identity, gender or beliefs.

What forms are there?

Political extremism (right-wing and left-wing)
A political worldview that sees its own beliefs as the only right and legitimate path. These movements reject democracy, pluralism and political dialogue, and justify violence to push through a political project or defend their ideals. The far right in particular relies on hatred and the devaluation of groups based on aspects of their identity, such as origin, religion or ethnicity. It seeks a homogeneous society that excludes anyone regarded as foreign or inferior.

Religiously motivated extremism
A religious worldview that sees its own interpretation as the only true one and devalues people of other faiths or beliefs. It rejects democracy, pluralism and human rights, and justifies violence as defence against oppression or as a divine command. It ranges from online recruitment and propaganda to attacks on people. Extremist movements can emerge within any religion.

Single-issue extremism
A worldview that elevates a single cause, whether political, social or ethical, to an absolute truth, so that violence becomes a legitimate means of pursuing it or fighting opponents. The causes vary widely: militant opposition to abortion, anti-vaccination movements or violent animal rights activism. Some movements target property and infrastructure, others directly target people seen as enemies or as responsible.

Who is at risk?

Radicalisation doesn’t affect one particular group. What makes people receptive are certain situations and needs. Anyone who feels excluded, unfairly treated or lost may find a sense of belonging, simple explanations and a feeling of importance in extremist groups. Extremist content online taps into exactly these needs and offers supposed answers to them.

Who is affected?

Those directly affected are people who become targets of hate speech, discrimination and exclusion, for example because of their origin, religion, skin colour, gender or sexual orientation, or because of their beliefs. In young people’s digital lives, this is the most visible form.

Society as a whole is affected too. When democratic principles are called into question and people are denied equal worth, social cohesion suffers.

If someone regularly expresses extreme opinions, it’s worth starting a conversation, without moralising and without either playing down or overstating what they’ve said. Uncomfortable or one-sided views are part of growing up, especially while young people are developing and finding their way. What matters is not the opinion itself, but how it combines with other factors, such as personality and family and social environment. If violence is justified or glorified, professional support should be sought.

Early signs of a radicalisation process:

• Withdrawal from their previous social circle for ideological reasons
• A tendency towards black-and-white thinking (‘us against them’)
• Uncompromising political or religious statements
• Adopting the typical phrases and arguments of an extremist group, often ‘simple answers’, conspiracy theories or victim narratives
• Regularly consuming or sharing extremist content online

These signs show development in a particular direction. They don’t mean that someone is extremist or dangerous. They can also be part of a normal search for direction and identity, for example during adolescence or after a personal crisis.

Signs of a real risk:

• Black-and-white thinking turns into strong contempt for particular groups. Everything is seen only in terms of friend or enemy.
• Uncompromising statements turn into a claim to absolute truth and a firm rejection of any other opinion or way of life.
• Withdrawal turns into close ties with like-minded people, online and offline. This entrenches extremist views.
• A general openness to violence turns into concrete support for or glorification of violence.
• Support for violence turns into a sense of personal mission: the person sees themselves as called upon to act and becomes preoccupied with possible targets, means or role models.

The more these signs come together into a firm conviction, the greater the real risk of violent development.

When should I be concerned?

Radicalisation results from an interplay of different factors: psychological, cognitive, identity-related, family-related and social. How much weight each factor carries, the order in which they appear and the personal resources someone brings with them vary greatly from person to person. The steps of radicalisation usually happen at the same time and in parallel, rather than in clear, successive stages.

What do radicalised young people need?

In a sense, radicalised young people are themselves ‘affected’. Not necessarily by violence from others, but by dynamics that deliberately target unmet needs: meaning, identity, recognition, appreciation, belonging, direction and security. But this is exactly where help can start too:

• Paying attention instead of looking away: noticing what is happening, not ignoring it
• Not putting them under pressure: alarmism tends to make young people close up rather than open up
• Listening and making room, including for uncomfortable thoughts
• Setting boundaries: making clear what is not acceptable
• Not blaming or shaming them
• A sense of belonging that doesn’t depend on putting others down
• Relationships that don’t break off, even when they say extreme things. This is difficult for those around them, but crucial: cutting off contact leaves the radicalised group as their only remaining point of reference
• Space for uncertainty, anger and feeling lost, without these feelings immediately becoming politically charged
• Context instead of simple answers: understanding how algorithms, peer pressure and echo chambers work helps them recognise how they are being drawn in
• A real chance to distance themselves: a way out without losing face, and without their past statements sticking to them for good

Tips for professionals

How best to approach a conversation with young people who are affected by or influenced by radicalisation is a matter for each professional’s own expertise.

The key points remain: listen, take them seriously and get support.