New service launched in the battle against cyberbullying

(Fornebu, June 7 2019) Children, teens and young adults are frequently exposed to harassment online. If you find yourself in a situation in which you are harassed, bullied or have had their private content shared online, it is not always easy to know what to do. Telenor is now launching “Nettslett“ - a service that provides you with professional help in removing undesirable content from the Internet.

“We live in one of the world’s most digital societies and this provides us with experience – for better or for worse. It is a joint responsibility to ensure that our kids and young people are safe online, a responsibility we also share at Telenor. That is why we are now launching the service “Nettslett”, which will be included automatically in our subscriptions for children, teens and young adults,” says Ric Brown, head of Telenor’s mobile division.

Legal and psychological support

Harassment online can take on various forms and have serious consequences. Whether it involves hurtful texts, threats or the sharing of nude pictures, cyberbullying most often takes place in secrecy and anonymously. If you find yourself in this kind of situation, it is important to have someone to turn to. With “Nettslett” you will be provided with both legal and psychological support.

“No one should feel unsafe online. Yet more and more young people say they are being bullied and have experienced that private or embarrassing pictures of them are shared online. This is unacceptable and something must be done about it. ”Nettslett” offers professional help in removing undesirable content from the Internet, should you be offended, bullied, abused or threatened. This refers to both things written about you and private pictures that are shared,” adds Brown.

”Nettslett” is included free of charge in the subscriptions for children, teens and young adults - U11, U18 and Yng Goodies. All other subscribers can access ”Nettslett” through Telenor’s additional service Secure ID.

It is a joint responsibility to ensure that our kids and young people are safe online, a responsibility we also share at Telenor. That is why we are now launching the service “Nettslett”, says Ric Brown.

Serious consequences

Simen Kleveland is a lawyer at HELP and works daily on cases involving people who have either experienced ID theft or had pictures of them spread online.

“Many of the victims blame themselves for what has happened. For some, the experience affects their daily life and concentration so much that they are no longer able to function normally in everyday life. They also run the risk of this affecting other important areas of their life. If undesirable pictures keep popping up in online searches, this can have severe consequences when applying for a job later in life,” says Kleveland.

Kleveland says that many victims feel paralysed. In these cases, the support offered by ”Nettslett” helps them move forward..

“Based on the conflict level, we analyse the situation and provide advice on how to proceed from there. We have good experience from family cases that often involve lots of emotion and drama,” says Kleveland.

Focus on online know-how

While ”Nettslett” can help you after the damage has occurred, Telenor also offers a prevention programme to avoid cyberbullying altogether. Earlier this month, Telenor relaunched Be Smart, Use Heart, a free interactive teaching programme for all teachers and schools in Norway who want to fight cyberbullying and boost online know-how.

“Be Smart, Use Heart is a teaching programme that hits you straight to the heart and subjects you to the choices we all wish children didn’t have to make. The programme enables you to try and fail, which can help to avoid making the same mistakes in your own life. We hope to reach 300,000 pupils over the course of the next two years. This autumn,we will also be sending parents back into the classroom,” says Brown.

For further information, please contact:

Anders Krokan, acting Communications Director, Telenor Norway
Phone: +47 952 09 037, e-mail: anders.krokan@telenor.com

This is ”Nettslett”

• Nettslett offers professional help in removing undesirable content from the Internet, should you be offended, bullied, abused or threatened. This refers to both things written about you and private pictures that are shared.
• Nettslett is included in the subscriptions for children, teens and young adults - U11, U18 and Yng Goodies.
• Nettslett is available to the user of the subscription. In other words, if you pay for your child’s subscription, your child is covered by Nettslett.
• Nettslett includes five hours of legal advice and up to NOK 200,000 in legal fees per case. It also includes up to NOK 5,000 in lost income and NOK 5,000 in therapy costs.

This is “Be Smart, Use Heart”

• An interactive teaching programme about online know-how and cyberbullying for pupils from the 5th to 10th grades.
• It is free and available to all teachers at the intermediate and secondary levels, and can be used in the classroom whenever the teacher prefer.
• Be Smart Use Heart is owned and developed by Telenor in partnership with Cross my Heart, which is the Norwegian Red Cross’ helpline for anyone under 18.
• All teachers can register at www.brukhue.no to use the programme.