Проблема сексуального насильства над дітьми в цифровому середовищі
The Problem of Sexual Harassment Against Children in the Digital Environment

Summary/Abstract: Variouns means of communication, the Internet is an integral part of society in general and children in particular. There are no official statistics on the number of children on the Internet, but according to various studies, the most active Internet users are young people, especially adolescents. On the one hand, it is a means of increasing erudition and communication skills, and on the other – a situation of increased risk of confrontation with some threats to the virtual world: from fraud to drug trafficking and sexual violence online. At the same time, against the background of declining general morality in society, the variability of values in the sexual sphere and other negative trends exacerbate the problem of sexual assault on children, which requires urgent measures to prevent and combat them. With the rapid development of modern Internet technologies, humanity has not only faced the latest opportunities, but also faced new risks and threats. In particular, the spread of child pornography, sexting, grooming, etc. has become a problem common to most countries in the world, including Ukraine, which is one of the largest producers of child pornography in the world. The author emphasizes that such illegal content is evidence of violence against children and, at the same time, a sign of sexual deviation among consumers of this product, for whom Internet technology is a tool for accessing, storing, distributing, sharing and creating child pornography. It is emphasized that thanks to digital technologies, the Internet has made it much easier for criminals to establish contact with minors, who often behave carelessly and recklessly in virtual communication, in particular, easily agree to share personal information and even send candid photos to virtual “friends”. Thus, there is a need to raise children’s awareness of online risks by teaching safe behavior in the digital environment. The article emphasizes that Ukraine has a rather limited toolkit of legal means to combat sexual violence online and harmful communication in cyberspace. Therefore, improving the protection of children in the digital environment is a priority today.

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