Preventing sexual abuse and cyberbullying to which children are exposed on the internet: Examples from Turkey, Canada, Australia and England

The internet is a global network that forms the basis of access to information, communication and trade today. Access to this network can be provided by anyone from anywhere in the world. People are trying to keep up with this new world that the internet is rapidly changing. This changing and developing order makes human life easier in many ways and harder in some ways. These difficulties cause more serious consequences, especially for children who are weaker than adults. Online child sexual abuse and cyberbullying are among the most harmful acts to children on the internet. The effects of these acts, which mostly affect children psychologically, are sometimes not understood from the outside. It is seen that children who cannot stand these virtual negativities they are exposed to harm themselves and even commit suicide. It is necessary to carry out studies to prevent such virtual acts, which have serious consequences and are proven to increase every day by studies. Some countries such as Canada, Australia and England are enacting new laws to ward off the negativities of the digital world or evaluating the actions as crimes and including them in the regulations in their penal codes. However, neither cyberbullying nor online abuse acts are regulated as crimes in Turkish law, and no separate laws have been enacted regarding them. In Turkish law, acts committed against children in the real world can be subject to more severe penalties if they cause crime. Considering that children actively use the internet and are much more prone to harm, penalties should be regulated in a deterrent manner in order to protect children from virtual crimes. Since it is important to prevent cyberbullying and online abuse from threatening children more and more each passing day and to ensure that children, the adults of the future, grow up in a healthy environment without being harmed, it is imperative to take protective, especially legal, measures as soon as possible. This study aims to understand the online abuse and cyberbullying to which children are exposed in the digital environment in the internet age and to highlight the increasing importance of these problems. In this context, the conceptual dimension and prevalence of these problems are first explained. The approaches of Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom, which have recently taken steps to ensure cybersecurity through legislation to combat online problems, are examined through exemplary court decisions. Finally, Turkey's national and international legal x regulations for protecting children, as well as the legal provisions under which specific crimes can be prosecuted, are evaluated in light of Supreme Court decisions.