Young People | Adults

Megan Meier case comes to a close

Lori Drew, the woman accused of creating a fake MySpace profile which she then used to cyber bully Megan Meier into taking her own life, has been convicted in a federal court in Los Angeles. Ms Drew was convicted on three counts of accessing a computer without authorisation, but acquitted on three felony charges of deliberately using the fake profile to inflict emotional distress on Megan. The decision to acquit Ms Drew, accused of using the social networking site to *intentionally perpetrate a cruel Internet hoax on a vulnerable teenage girl* is a setback for prosecutors wishing to embed cyber bullying firmly in the statute books. The case only nade legal history because it centred on the fact that Ms Drew lied on the profile and therefore violated the site's terms of service.

RSA Vodafone Debate on Young People and Technology

26 November 2008

Beatbullying took part in the debate last week to discuss the opportunities and pitfalls of a virtual world, joining four other leaders in the area. You can hear what Sarah, our Director of New Media, had to say about the merits of new technology and the problem of cyberbullying, including how we can tackle it,  here.

We are recruiting!

19 November 2008

Want to work with one of the most exciting charities in the UK? Beatbullying is currently recruiting counsellors, a web designer, a fundraising officer and several sports coaches. For more information, please take a look at our jobs page.

Young people have a 1 in 4 chance of being bullied because of their faith

1 in 4 young people who practice a religion have been bullied due to their faith or wearing of religious symbols according to a new report out today by Beatbullying. Many young people went on to explain that this led them to self harm, drink alcohol or take drugs as a consequence.

The report also found that 1 in 5 young people choose to mix largely with friends of the same religion and 1 in 20 said that their families do not approve of them having friends of other religious faiths. Both findings show a lack of interfaith cohesion across the UK and draw a clear link as to why there is a noticeable level of intolerance around faith.

The research, released today to mark the beginning of Anti Bullying Week, also showed that more than twice as many young people as adults actually practice a religion, yet almost half of young people never talk about religious issues at all.

Read the full press release >>

Read the full Beatbullying Interfaith Report >>