Social media has provided a significant net positive for the average person because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up allowing them to stay in touch with one another far more easily. In spite of the fact that this is the case, the congregation of so many people through the relative anonymity of the internet has created a serious cyberbullying problem, and all indications point to this problem becoming significantly worse these days.
New data from McAfee revealed that cyberbullying is on the rise, with children as young as ten years of age facing racist attacks on social media. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that 58% of these cyberbullying incidents came from people these children already know in real life. Only 46% came from strangers, so this might be an extension of the general hostility among children interacting with one another in the real world.
It turns out that Meta is one of the worst culprits when it comes to cyberbullying. Meta owned Facebook led the way in terms of cyberbullying, with half of children on the platform saying that they witnessed it with all things having been considered and taken into account. Facebook performs worse than its subsidiary Instagram, where 30% of child users faced some kind of cyberbullying.
According to the findings in this report, Meta users were twice as likely to experience cyberbullying than Twitter users. WhatsApp users were also four times more likely to experience some kind of cyberbullying than users for Discord and other apps.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Meta’s algorithms tend to encourage negative interactions since outrage leads to improved engagement. However, children are being exposed to increasingly hostile environments online, and it is really important to protect them from this by asking for improved performance by tech companies operating within this sector. Until that happens, children will continue to experience cyberbullying that can impact their development and cause a host of behavioral and societal problems. However, Mcafee did share some insights and tips for parents to deal with this matter. Take a look at below charts for more details:
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New data from McAfee revealed that cyberbullying is on the rise, with children as young as ten years of age facing racist attacks on social media. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that 58% of these cyberbullying incidents came from people these children already know in real life. Only 46% came from strangers, so this might be an extension of the general hostility among children interacting with one another in the real world.
It turns out that Meta is one of the worst culprits when it comes to cyberbullying. Meta owned Facebook led the way in terms of cyberbullying, with half of children on the platform saying that they witnessed it with all things having been considered and taken into account. Facebook performs worse than its subsidiary Instagram, where 30% of child users faced some kind of cyberbullying.
According to the findings in this report, Meta users were twice as likely to experience cyberbullying than Twitter users. WhatsApp users were also four times more likely to experience some kind of cyberbullying than users for Discord and other apps.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Meta’s algorithms tend to encourage negative interactions since outrage leads to improved engagement. However, children are being exposed to increasingly hostile environments online, and it is really important to protect them from this by asking for improved performance by tech companies operating within this sector. Until that happens, children will continue to experience cyberbullying that can impact their development and cause a host of behavioral and societal problems. However, Mcafee did share some insights and tips for parents to deal with this matter. Take a look at below charts for more details:
