Online users always fear bullying, especially in the social media and India is no exception. A new research shows that unwanted sexting, unwanted contact, treating meanly, trolling and hate speech are the top risks in India. The country’s ranking in online civility has come down because of these five online risks, said the Microsoft research.
Microsoft published the study a few weeks ago as part of the Safer Internet Day. The research noted that 45 per cent of the person’s who faced online risk or threats knew the perpetrators.
It said that 71 per cent of the teenagers faced a risk and 81 per cent worried that the risk would again happen. The study pointed out that the social media groups were the most online space for such risks.
Digital Civility Index (DCI) is the measure for getting knowledge on online interactions. If the DCI score is high, it means lower civility. The study said that DCI for India increased to 71 per cent in 2019. The report said that this was highest in the last four years.
The Microsoft came out with the study after a survey of 12,520 adults and teenagers in about 25 countries. Almost all those surveyed said that politics and physical appearance were the primary drivers of online incivility. While thirty per cent said that sexual orientation was drivers of incivility, 26 per cent said that it was religion. Twenty five per cent of the people attributed incivility to race.
The top five countries for online civility were the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, US and Malaysia. Russia, Vietnam, Colombia, South Africa and Peru were on the bottom of civility.
