Infographic – Adults’ online experiences

Online safety in Australia  

Adults’ online experiences¹

The eSafety Commissioner surveyed 5,304 adults living in Australia about their online experiences².  

This is what we discovered.  

Most adults have had a negative online experience

• 70% had at least one negative online experience in the previous 12 months to November 2022³.  

Certain adults are more at risk online

• 86% of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander adults had at least one negative online experience in the previous 12 months to November 2022.  
• 83% of sexually diverse⁴ adults had at least one negative online experience in the previous 12 months.  
• 79% of adults with disability had at least one negative online experience in the previous 12 months.  
• 76% of linguistically diverse adults had at least one negative online experience in the previous 12 months.  

Adults experienced a range of online harms

• 41% received repeated unwanted messages or online contact from someone other than cold callers/marketers.  
• 31% were sent unwanted inappropriate content, such as porn or violent content.  
• 31% had things said to them to provoke a response in them or to start an argument.  
• 26% had their accounts accessed without their consent.  
• 25% were called offensive names.

• 16% had someone electronically track their location without their consent.  
• 15% had lies or rumours spread about them.  
• 15% were exposed to a virtual space that was sexually graphic.  
• 14% had someone pretending to be them.  
• 13% received threats online, or electronically, of real-life harm or abuse.

• 9% received threats to share private photos of them.  
• 7% had private photos or videos of them shared without their consent.  
• 6% had someone create a sexually explicit avatar or image of them to interact with without their consent.  
• 11% experienced something else that upset or offended them.  

Adults generally feel confident about how to stay safe online

• 80% feel confident using online technology.  
• 74% know how to keep themselves safe.  
• 70% understand how to protect their privacy.  
• 59% would know how to deal with online bullying or harassment.  

But adults still need help responding to some online harms

• 46% know what to do if their accounts were hacked.  
• 42% know where to report a negative online incident such as abuse.  
• 35% know what to do if someone was pretending to be them.  
• 32% know what to do if personal information or images were shared without their consent.  

33% would stick up for someone who was the target of offensive comments online.  

Adults want technology companies to do more to keep them safe  

• 84% agree that technology companies have a responsibility for people’s online safety.  
• 44% say technology companies aren’t doing enough to build safety features into the services and products they supply.  

Adults want technology companies to use safety features to protect them online  

• 59% want the highest safety and privacy settings to be in place by default.  
• 58% want user content to be scanned to detect and remove illegal or seriously harmful content.  
• 51% want tools available that allow users to report inappropriate content.  

¹ This infographic, originally published in February 2022, has been updated to address a data error.

² Part of a nationally representative survey of 5,304 adults living in Australia and aged 18+ in November 2022.

³ Experienced at least one of the harms listed under the heading ‘Adults experienced a range of online harms’.  

⁴ Survey respondents who described their sexual orientation as ‘gay’, ‘lesbian’, ‘bisexual’, ‘queer’, ‘asexual’, ‘unsure/questioning’, and 'I use a different term’ (included pansexual, bicurious, demisexual, and fluid).