Australians’ negative online experiences 2022
Most adults in Australia have had a negative online experience, according to eSafety’s 2022 national survey.
The survey revealed that adults had experienced a range of online harms, including being sent inappropriate content and having their online accounts accessed without their consent.
The research showed that:
- 70% of adults surveyed had at least one negative online experience in the previous 12 months to November 2022
- certain adults are more at risk online, including First Nations adults, sexually diverse adults, adults with disability, and linguistically diverse adults
- Australian adults generally feel confident about how to stay safe online, but most of those surveyed wanted technology companies to do more to keep them safe.
Top level findings
About the research
The information on this page, originally published in February 2022, has been updated to address a data error.
This research draws on data from eSafety’s Australian Adults Online survey. A total of 5,304 adults living in Australia, aged 18 years and over, were surveyed about their online activities and experiences.
eSafety commissioned WhereTo Research to conduct the survey which was done from 11 to 29 November 2022. Participants referenced the year prior to November 2022 when surveyed about their online activities and experiences.