As many as 340,000 children and teenagers are regularly bullied over the internet or on their mobile phones, according to a new report.

The charity Beatbullying said young people experienced most abuse on the instant messaging service MSN and the social networking site Bebo.

"We know the consequences of online bullying are just as traumatic as those of face-to-face bullying," said the organisation's boss Emma-Jane Cross.

"We want all social networking sites, internet service providers and mobile phone companies to take measures to identify and remove offensive material."

The release of the new research is timed to coincide with national anti-bullying week which this year concentrates on internet and mobile phone abuse.

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'Faceless online'

Almost two thirds of the 2,094 11 to 18-year-olds surveyed by the charity in England said they had seen some form of online bullying.

"People find it very easy because they aren't actually looking at the person and they can't see what they feel like afterwards," 13-year-old Tim admitted.

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Half the people surveyed had heard of people setting up a fake profile pretending to be another person; one in five had seen hate sites or groups set up to bully someone online.

Tim's classmate Bethan, 14, added: "Friends can sometimes be cowardly to your face but as soon as they press the sign in button everything just tumbles out."

Fifty-eight per cent of those targeted said bullying had taken place on the instant messaging service MSN, now renamed Windows Live Messenger.

Microsoft, which runs it, said it does not tolerate bullying on its network but "as with any communication service, these online communication tools are misused by a tiny minority".

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