Italy on Tuesday joined Britain in urging Web operators to tackle school bullies who post videos of their exploits on the Internet.
"We need the collaboration of web site operators on this," said Education Minister Giuseppe Fioroni, praising his British counterpart Alan Johnson for "raising an issue that is a common concern around the world".
There was a need to persuade web sites to take action, said Fioroni, who recently launched a nationwide crackdown on bullying after a wave of cases that have shocked the nation.
"It isn't a question of censorship but to carry out checks to detect and remove violent content".
"Is it too much to ask operators to monitor the content of the videos that circulate on their sites, especially those involving bullying? What kind of signal are we sending when (we allow) footage of a handicapped kid being picked on to become the 'funniest' video of the moment?," the minister asked.
"The Internet means freedom, but it must defend the freedom of all, not just the strongest," Fioroni stressed.
Fioroni was speaking after Johnson said video-sharing Web sites like YouTube have a "moral obligation" to tackle bullies who post clips showing abuse of teachers and pupils.
The British minister urged site operators to do more to remove videos taken by pupils on mobile phones.
As part of Italy's drive against bullying, Fioroni recently announced a clampdown on the use of cellphones in schools.
Phones would be banned from the classroom and teachers allowed to confiscate them, he said.
The cellphone move came shortly after a widely publicised case in which a teacher was prosecuted for assault after grabbing a phone from a girl.
Italy has been shocked by a rash of video clips on the Internet apparently showing teachers being humiliated by their students.
One clip seized on by the media showed a student lifting up his teacher's desk during a lesson and another producing blasts of flame from a cigarette lighter and a can of lighter fuel.
In another case that hit the national news, a teacher was filmed while a young student apparently tugged at her underwear.
Several gang attacks on students have also been posted, including an underage girl apparently being forced to perform oral sex.
The latest incident was made public on Tuesday when it emerged that a 14-year-old boy filmed himself while he stripped the clothes off a 13-year-old-girl in a school toilet.
The student's phone was confiscated before he had time to download the assault.
A recent survey found that eight out of ten Italian school children had direct or indirect experience of bullying.
The suicide earlier this month of a teenager who was subjected to anti-gay taunts re-ignited the nation's debate on the apparent rise in the phenomenon.
