Protecting Children on the Web

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

The web has many advantages for everyone, in every age, around the globe. But as always there are darker sides that can cause severe damages.

Children should never be afraid to go to school, connect with their friends online – or worse – feel that their torment is so bad that they consider suicide as a way to end their pain.

According to Yonatan Dukan the developer of the “Red Button” application, about 50% of the children in Israel at the age of 9-14 are cyber bullied during a school year. “Despite the scale of the phenomenon, most victims refrain from turning to an adult for assistance.”

The Red Button is an innovative-entrepreneurial non-profit which tackles cyber bullying and digital abuse, provides essential assistance to victims and their families and offers long-term support to those who struggle to rebuild their lives.

The project’s approach is based on its own development of The Red Button application and browser add-on, that enables cyber bullying victims to turn for assistance, immediately and anonymously.

Due to the project’s close collaboration with Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and many other social platforms, it has the ability to remove instantly offensive posts, close hate groups and delete violent videos from the web. “We don’t wait for someone to point a dangerous post but also search the web for such dangerous posts”.

According to Dukan, the project’s activities help thousands of students resolve bullying situations. As for today they have saved more than 100 lives.

Skilled and oriented kids have the most potential to influence other kids and effectively solve issues of cyber bullying and harassment. Through The Red Button Educational Program, the project empowers kids and youth and equips them with the knowledge, the technology and practical tools to tackle cyber bullying, raise awareness, lead campaigns, assist cyber bullying victims and insure their safety online.  

“Our efforts are bearing fruits and we are able to make the web a safer place for our children”, concludes Dukan.