Unsee, a child-friendly non-bot chat that allows teenagers to quickly and anonymously complain about inappropriate online content, get advice, or file a police report, has been launched. The tool was developed by the Child Well-being Fund together with the Juvenile Prevention of Ukraine as part of the project “Empowering Law Enforcement in overcoming online Violence against Children” which has been implemented by a consortium of civil society organisations since January 2022 with the financial support of the European Union.

“This project aims to strengthen the ability of law enforcement authorities to protect children's rights. And we are pleased that the young people get involved directly. After all, a responsible approach to the environment, including the digital one, is not only about awareness and compliance with safety rules, but also about the readiness of teenagers themselves to contribute to the common cause,” stated Asier Santillian, Head of European Integration, Governance and Rule of Law, and Civil Society at the EU Delegation to Ukraine.

During the first months of its test mode, the non-bot chat received 673 requests, and operators registered 42 complaints, 23 of which were passed on to the police.

“The police are always looking for efficient solutions so that crimes in the digital environment can be reported and specialists can respond to them in a timely and effective manner. The obstacle is that the cyberworld is infinitely large and mobile, and in particular Telegram, where most teenagers spend their time, is an anonymous encrypted messenger. Unsee is our step towards teenagers, to whom we want to say: "Don't leave criminals invisible and unpunished! We are on your side, let us know and we will take the initiative.” Vasyl Bohdan, Head of the Juvenile Prevention Office of the National Police of Ukraine, said.

The Child Well-being Fund Ukraine, in the process of developing a complaint tool, conducted a survey of teenagers called “I want to unsee it” and found that 57 percent of respondents did not complain about unwanted content when they saw it. The main reasons for this choice were: “It's none of my business” (46 percent) and “I don't believe the police will respond effectively to my complaint” (25 percent).

“We were impressed by this research result. And it motivated us to expand the original task. After all, if children do not trust us, adults, we will not be able to protect them. And we will learn about all risky situations in hindsight. That's why Unsee is not just a way to complain or report violations to the police. It is a channel of communication with adults (psychologists, social workers, and police officers) who will listen attentively, give advice and reassurance, and if there is a crime, open a case.” Olena Shypilenko, project coordinator for the Ukrainian Child Well-being Fund, commented. 

Unsee non-chat bot works in Telegram and is available for download here:  @Unsee_nebot

Background information:

The three-year project "Empowering Law Enforcement in overcoming online Violence against Children" is implemented by the All-Ukrainian Charity “Child Well-Being Fund  Ukraine”, the All-Ukrainian Public Centre “Volonter”  and the NGO "Labour and Health Social Initiatives" with more than 400 000 EUR of financial support from the European Union. The pilot regions are Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, and Kharkiv oblasts. The project's duration is 2022-2024. 

 For additional information, please contact Oleksandra Zarutska: zarutska@childfund.org.ua, +380(44) 537-20-1