One in 10 British teenagers has been a victim of "cyberbullying," where they receive threatening e-mails or have unpleasant rumors about them spread on the Internet, an AFP report, quoting, an MSN survey, said.
According to the report, half of the 500 respondents in the MSN survey thought their parents were unaware that children could be bullied over the Internet.
Also, 13-year-olds were most likely to suffer from the problem, the report said.
The report quoted John Carr, chairman of Children's Charities' Coalition for Internet Safety, as saying that "we're hearing from an increasing number of teenagers who have needlessly suffered cyberbullying for days, weeks and even months in silence."
Natalie Mead, head of citizenship at MSN UK, said the Internet was still the hub of teenagers' positive social communication with friends, the report said.
MSN urged teenagers to guard their identity online and encouraged them to complain if they received offensive messages, the report further said.