Shitposting can be fun, but it can also be harmful, especially when that ‘just for a laugh’ comment comes from an awful, hateful place. In an alarming Safer Internet Day report from Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, it was detailed that 23 per cent of the people it surveyed said it was “fun to watch people get upset” from the comments/posts they make online.
No one likes reading doom and gloom news, it was 100 per cent our intention to take the survey eSafety published this morning and pull out the nice parts. But bad behaviour was just too apparent and aside from many Aussies wanting a resolution to this trend, there wasn’t much we could sugar coat.
In compiling two reports (Online safety in Australia: Adults’ experiences online and Negative online behaviours) published for Safer Internet Day, eSafety surveyed 4,737 Aussies aged 18-65 about their experience from December 2021 through November 2022.
eSafety found that about 75 per cent of adults surveyed reported having had at least one negative online experience in the past 12 months. Of those, 32 per cent were sent unwanted inappropriate content, such as porn or violent content, 30 per cent were called offensive names, 16 per cent received threats of in-person abuse or harm and the list went on. Most disgusting was that 18 per cent had someone electronically track their location without their consent.
One in six Aussies admitted to doing something negative online to others. This was mostly men aged 18-39 who live in ‘metro’ areas. In true keyboard warrior fashion, across the board, 34 per cent of the victims targeted by anyone admitting they were doing something bad were complete strangers. It was 22 per cent who said they did this just for fun. eSafety said 23 per cent said “it’s fun to watch people get upset about something I’ve posted online”.
There was only 32 per cent of respondents that know what to do when personal information or images are shared without consent and 36 per cent that know what to do when someone pretends to be them online. What was agreed upon by the majority, 82 per cent, in fact, was that tech companies have a responsibility for their online safety.
About 42 per cent of people surveyed reckon tech companies aren’t doing enough to build safety features into their services and products, which is a fight eSafety has been fighting for a while.
This report was confronting. Please, be kind out there.
If you or someone you care about needs support, please call LifeLine Australia on 13 11 14. If life is in danger, call 000.