Out of 919 Internet users in India in the age group 15-65, 175 (19%) reported that they had online harassment.
New Delhi: ONE IN every five Internet users surveyed in India have reported having faced online harassment. This is one of the findings of surveys by the policy think-tank LIRNEAsia on the Global South and information technology; other findings were reported in The Indian Express Wednesday.
Out of 919 Internet users in India in the age group 15-65, 175 (19%) reported that they had online harassment. This was more than in Pakistan or Bangladesh (12% each). Rural users in India (20%) experienced more online harassment than urban ones (17%) while males (20%) faced more harassment more than females (17%).
Almost half of those who had experienced online harassment in India were called offensive names, while one-fifth were “purposefully embarrassed or criticised in another way” and one-sixth were cyber-stalked, or repeatedly approached by unwanted contacts.
Again, 38% of those who faced online harassment did not know the motivation for the harassment, while roughly 20% each believed the motivation to be gender, religion or race, or politics. Most experienced the harassment on social media, while 29% faced it on chat applications, 16% on website comment sections and 7% in online gaming.
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