EU study finds internet risks to youngsters is overblown

The risks encountered by young people on the internet are less significant than is often believed, according to a survey funded by the European Commission.

The Kids Online survey shows that only a small minority of youngsters is confronted with problems on the internet. Interestingly, what adults find disturbing, youngsters don't necessarily identify as a problem.

So of those who said they had found content such as sexual images or received sexual messages, very few said they were upset by it. But around half of those parents whose children have encountered problems online were aware of them.

"The children who reported being made uncomfortable by a problem on the internet are a small minority: only eight per cent of nine- to 16-year-olds in France and 12 per cent in Europe as a whole," the report said.

However, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) said its findings point to a different conclusion and the threat posed by those who sexually abuse and exploit children remains at a significant level.

A Ceop representative told us: "Our 2009/2010 Strategic Overview showed that we had 6,291 reports, about suspect behaviour in the year April 2009 to March 2010. The most commonly reported activity is grooming, followed by the distribution of indecent images".

The EU survey was conducted in 25 EU countries by a research network led by the London School of Economics. It was carried out between May and August 2010 and 25,140 internet users aged between nine and 16 and their parents took part.

The study also found that the use of parental control measures is relatively low: only a quarter of parents block or filter out certain sites.