Sex, violence viewed by millions of students online

BEIJING: Tens of millions of primary and middle school students see widespread pornography and cyberviolence, a recent survey showed, despite China ratcheting up efforts to eliminate such content over the last decade.

The Report on Chinese Minors’ Internet Use 2018 found that 30.3% of netizens under the age of 18 ran into porn, violence and illegal drug use while surfing the Internet.

Almost 15% had sustained mental or financial damage due to misleading information online, and nearly 16% said they had experienced verbal attacks, bullying or unwanted privacy disclosures while using the Internet, according to the report released by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Youth League and the China Internet Network Information Centre.

It was based on a survey of 31,158 primary and middle school students nationwide.

Compared with a decade ago, the number of young students encountering pornography and violence online has decreased.

A survey by the China Youth and Children Research Centre in 2009 found that 48.3% of adolescents had visited porn sites, and 43.4% had received emails that bullied them or suggested violence.

The government formed the 12321 hotline in 2008 to handle complaints on fake information, porn and online bullying. It gets tens of thousands of reports monthly, with many relating to pornography.

Liu Han, a high school student in Beijing, said pop-up windows containing sexual content are common on websites offering free movies and popular online novels – sites frequently visited by his peers.