Government minister Matthew Hancock backs The Sun’s Block the Bullying campaign
The Tory MP and Minister of State for Digital and Culture said 'what is illegal offline, is illegal online'
THE Minister of State for Digital and Culture has given his full support to The Sun’s Block The Bullying campaign, calling on all social media companies help 'protect children'.
Tory MP Matt Hancock made an impassioned plea to the online giants "to quickly remove inappropriate content".
Mr Hancock also made it clear bullies would be punished for their actions in a video filmed exclusively for The Sun.
He said: "We know that bullying can devastate young lives and that includes cyber bullying.
“Social media companies need to have robust processes in place to quickly remove inappropriate content."
Block The Bullying aims to educate young people about why filming and sharing attacks on social media can be just as damaging to a child as the actual physical assault.
We are also telling teens what to do if they see a bullying video on social media, how parents should react if their child is a victim and we are asking readers to .
Finally we are calling on social media channels to take down any videos showing the bullying of children as soon as they become aware of them.
The aims of the campaign are simple:
Firstly: We call on all social media platforms to remove videos of children being physically bullied by other young people as soon as they come to their attention.
Secondly: We are asking for Sun readers - both children and adults - to pledge their support to report the videos if they see them.
Thirdly: We aim to educate children as to why they should never film and share incidents of bullying and the damage it can cause the victims and to themselves.
Fourthly: We want to offer parents an easy step by step guide to help them cope if their children have been victims of cyber bullying.
Mr Hancock added: "We want to see them block the bullying to make sure they are protecting children who use their sites.
"The law is already clear – what is illegal offline is illegal online and when bullies break the law they will be brought to account."
We reported on the mum of a bullying victim who warned how the spread of viral videos showing kids being attacked mean "bullies think they can get away" with abusing others.
It comes after her son Jamie, 15, was attacked by a gang of hockey stick-wielding thugs during the summer holidays.
The sickening assault was filmed and widely shared on Snapchat, but police reportedly said there "was nothing they could do".
Shockingly three of Jamie's attackers still go to his school.
How to tackle bullying videos on social media
Brutal videos of children beating up other children are becoming more common by the day. But what should you do if you see one pop up on your social media feed? And worse still, what should you do if you discover that your child is a victim of this kind of bullying, or even that they are taking part themselves? It is an incredibly tough position for any parent to be in, so click here for the NSPCC's step by step guide of what to do.
The Sun Online has pledged not to publish any more videos of children being bullied, unless we have express permission from the family or police.
If you or anyone you know have experienced this kind of bullying email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368