Online hate, bullying and violence

Young people’s experience with online hate, bullying and violence

A high proportion of young people aged 12 to 17 in Australia have encountered inappropriate or hateful content online.

Their experiences included:

• Being targets of bullying or hurtful comments: 25% — 30% of girls, 21% of boys
• Seeing real violence that disturbed them: 57% — 62% of girls, 53% of boys
• Seeing racist comments: 56% — 60% of girls, 53% of boys
• Seeing or hearing hateful comments about cultural or religious groups: 53% — 57% of girls, 50% of boys

Targets of harmful content online (multiple responses allowed)

• Muslims, 53%
• Asylum seekers, 37%
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, 37%
• Refugees, 35%
• Asians, 33%
• LGBTI, 26%
• Africans, 20%
• Jews, 17%
• Christians, 15%
• Other minority groups, 2%

Promotion of terrorism

33% of young people have seen videos or images promoting terrorism online.

Dealing with online hate, bullying and violent content

What young people said they would do when they encountered...

Cyberbullying:

• 53% report it (72% would report to their parents)
• 18% post a comment against it
• 18% ignore it
• 4% share it with online friends

Violent images or videos promoting terrorism:

• 48% report it (66% of these would report to their parents)
• 29% ignore it
• 8% post a comment against it
• 2% share it with online friends

Racist or hateful comments about cultural groups:

• 36% report it (66% of these would report to their parents
• 33% post a comment against it
• 17% ignore it
• 3% share it with online friends

Hateful comments about religion:

• 32% report it (64% of these would report to their parents)
• 14% post a comment against it
• 40% ignore it
• 2% share it with online friends

Source: Research commissioned by eSafety and the Department of Education and Training, November to December 2016. Respondents comprised 2,448 young people aged 12 to 17 years in Australia.