More than a third of 12- to 15-year-olds are being exposed to hate speech online, according to new research that also shows children are spending more time on the internet than any other media activity for the first time.

Regulator Ofcom asked children who use the web whether at any point in the past year they had seen anything “hateful” directed at a particular group of people based on characteristics such as gender, religion, disability, sexuality or gender identity. The question asked them to think about examples including posts on social media, comments on news articles and videos on YouTube.



Of the 34% who said they had seen hate speech in the last year, 7% said they saw it regularly and 27% said they sometimes saw it. The survey was conducted in the three months leading up to the end of June, when the UK voted to leave the EU.

Ofcom’s head of children’s research Emily Keaney said the finding underlined the need for parents to talk to their children about what they see and do online.

“We all know it’s out there. And if you are out on the internet, you may well see it,” she said. “And that’s why having those conversations with your children is so important. One of those things that is reassuring is that that majority of both eight to 11s and 12 to 15s say they would tell somebody if they saw something online that was worrying, and that is most likely a family member. That suggests children are keen to have those conversations.”

A spokesperson for the NSPCC described the figures as very worrying. They said: “Every child has the right to feel safe online and hate posts should not be tolerated by social networks or any other website.

“We would encourage anyone who sees hate posts on social media, whether from an organisation or one of their peers, to report it to the network straight away.”

Ofcom’s research into children’s media habits and attitudes is carried out each year, but this is the first time the regulator has asked either adults or children about hate speech. It has previously asked children if they have come across something “worrying or nasty” while online, with the level holding roughly steady in 2016 at 19% of 12- to 15-year-olds and one in 10 eight- to 11-year-olds.

Despite heightened concerns around online bullying, the survey found it was no worse than in person. Levels of bullying were the same online and off for 12- to 15-year-olds, and greater face-to-face for eight- to 11-year-olds.

The survey also found that children between the ages of five and 15 are now spending an average of 15 hours a week using the internet, up 118 minutes since 2015. Over the same period, time watching TV fell by more than an hour to 13 hours and 36 minutes. Older children are spending even more time on the internet, with 12- to 15-year-olds online for just over 20 hours a week.

Netflix, iPlayer and other traditional-style TV services watched on a computer, tablet or smartphone were included in the online figures, but Ofcom said that YouTube was especially popular among children.

The survey found that 37% of three- to four-year-olds watch YouTube, rising to 87% of 12- to 15-year-olds. Children between the ages of eight and 15 who watched both TV and YouTube were twice as likely to say they prefer Google’s video service.

However, worries that children are wasting their time on the internet could be misplaced. Ofcom said many were using the internet to help out with creative activities and play, for instance using YouTube to teach them craft skills or instruments.

Asked whether the level of screen time across the web and TV was a concern, Keaney said: “Some of that time is actually quite closely linked and involved in traditional play.

“They are not using it in the way adults would necessarily use it just focusing on the screen. They’ve got their tablet propped up while they are making their loom band creations or while they are doing their drawings. There is more of a seamless interaction between those two things than we would necessarily think about.”