85% of Indian children cyberbullied, highest globally: McAfee report

India also reported prominent acts of cyberbullying such as spreading false rumours at 39%, being excluded from groups and conversations at 35% and name calling at 34%

Leading amongst all other nations, 85 per cent of Indian children reported being cyberbullied as well as having cyberbullied someone else at rates well over twice the international average. According to McAfee’s 2022 Cyberbullying in Plain Sight Report, Indian children said that they’ve cyberbullied someone else at rates well over twice the international average.

According to Indian parents, 42 per cent of children have been the target of racist cyberbullying, strikingly 14 per cent higher than the rest of the world at 28 per cent. Extreme forms of cyberbullying reported besides racism include trolling (36 per cent), personal attacks (29 per cent), sexual harassment (30 per cent), threat of personal harm (28 per cent) and doxing (23 per cent), all of these at almost double the global average.

India also reported prominent acts of cyberbullying such as spreading false rumours at 39 per cent, being excluded from groups and conversations at 35 per cent and name calling at 34 per cent. Indian children witness and experience maximum cyberbullying on almost every social media and messaging platform. 45 per cent of Indian children said they hide their cyberbullying experiences from parents, perhaps due to the relative absence of conversation.

“Cyberbullying in India reaches alarming highs as more than 1 in 3 kids face cyber racism, sexual harassment, and threats of physical harm as early as the age of 10 - making India the #1 nation for reported cyberbullying in the world,” said Gagan Singh, Chief Product Officer, McAfee.

“Parents are displaying important gaps of knowledge around cyberbullying but even more concerning, children aren’t considering behaviours like jokes and name-calling harmful online. Our mission with this research is to inform parents and families of what children are experiencing online and then empower parents to act where appropriate,” he added.

The McAfee Cyberbullying Report, a ten-country survey including India, uncovered several new and consequential trends regarding cyberbullying including the types of bullying being reported, data around who is the perpetrator and victim of bullying online, and the tensions between how parents and children define cyberbullying activity.

This survey also uncovered the startling fact that many children take part in cyberbullying, often without realizing their behaviour for what it is, while parents struggle to keep up.

McAfee’s Global Connected Family Study, which was released earlier this year and revealed cyberbullying among children was one of the biggest vulnerabilities that families face today. The new McAfee Cyberbullying Report aimed at fully understanding the extent, ways and forms in which children face cyberbullying and highlight gaps in how parents manage these experiences.

The research was conducted between June 15 – July 5, 2022, by market research company MSI-ACI via email inviting parents of children between the age of 10 – 18 to complete an online questionnaire. In total 11,687 parents and their children completed the survey from 10 countries including the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, India, Canada, Japan, Brazil, and Mexico.