Telia and Friends join forces against e-bullying

Telia is working with Friends, Sweden’s largest organization against bullying, to fight bullying of children and teenagers via electronic channels.

Through its collaboration with Friends, Telia is actively contributing to the fight against and prevention of e-bullying so that children and teenagers feel safe and have only positive experiences when contacting their friends via mobiles and Internet.

Telia and Friends are planning a joint e-bullying seminar tour to schools throughout Sweden. Telia’s employees also have the opportunity to become in involved in preventing e-bullying through lectures and other activities.

“We have been working for a long time to clear the Internet of viruses and spam, so it is a natural step for us to also actively fight abuses in the form of bullying via SMS, e-mail and websites,” says Karin Moberg, Marketing Director of TeliaSonera Sweden.

Telia is collaborating with Friends due to the foundation’s extensive experience in and knowledge about e-bullying and its established contacts with children, teenagers and adults in schools and athletic organizations.

“Lecturers from Friends meet over 1,000 children and adults every day. During the past few years, we have noticed how bullying has taken on new characteristics – with today’s technology, bullies can follow their victims home,” says Magnus Jägerskog, Marketing Director at Friends. “No one can stop e-bullying alone. It requires collective efforts from schools as well as students, personnel and parents, but also between non-profit organizations and actors within the telecommunications industry. Our collaboration with Telia gives us the resources to visit more schools, but we also build a strong team that with our different competencies can work to prevent e-bullying in the long run.”

Friends is a Swedish foundation built on the concept of educating children, teenagers and adults on how to prevent bullying and other offensive behavior. Friends was founded in 1997 and has held educational courses in more than 1000 schools for more than 300,000 participants.