On this website — 'Child and young person' or 'children and young people' means a child or young person who is under 18 years of age, unless otherwise defined by law or noted.
Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying is bullying that happens online. It is using the internet to be mean to another person or upset them.
Cyberbullying can take place on social media, through text messages, gaming platforms, or other digital spaces. It’s like bullying offline, and often a person can be bullied online and offline by the same person or group of people.
Cyberbullying is sharing, sending or posting content online that is:
- about a specific person
- likely to be harmful to their physical or mental health, and
- the person is a child or young person (who is under 18 years old).
Cyberbullying is likely to be harmful to a person’s physical or mental health if it is seriously:
- threatening
- intimidating
- harassing, or
- humiliating.
Learn more about Cyberbullying and how to report it on the eSafety Commissioner website including:
There is also information about workplace bullying on this website.
Image based abuse
Image based abuse
Image based abuse is when someone shares or threatens to share, intimate content of a person without their consent. Consent means that someone clearly gives their permission without any pressure and fully understanding what they are agreeing to. The content can be real, altered or fake (also known as deepfake).
Image based abuse can include ‘sextortion’, ‘revenge porn’ or sexual grooming.
An image or video is intimate if it shows or appears to show:
- you nude or partly naked
- your genitals or bottom (i.e. upskirting)
- you during a private activity
- you without clothing of religious or cultural significance.
Image based abuse can be posted, shared or sent using:
- online platforms (social media, online game)
- a direct message (text messages, emails, chat etc)
- a website (i.e. a porn site).
Sextortion is image-based abuse where:
someone blackmails you using intimate images or videos, asking for:
- money
- gifts, or
- more sexual content.
If you are being blackmailed, report it to police.
If someone shares, or threatens to share, intimate images of you
The eSafety commissioner can help.
Learn more about image-based abuse on the eSafety website including:
We have a list of services that offer support for children and young people.
Learn more about the role of the eSafety Commissioner in responding to cyberbullying and image-based abuse.
More in this section:
Laws and standards for children and young people
There are laws and standards that creative organisations and businesses need to understand before working with, or engaging, children and young people in creative workplaces.
Child safeguarding
Thera are important things to consider when working with and engaging children and young people in creative workplaces, including how to keep them safe and reporting obligations.
