During an annual campaign to stop cyberbullying, Digi with its parent company Telenor Group conducted survey across the region including Malaysia, asking youth in the age between 18-20 on their awareness of the topic.

Malaysia has over 20.1 million active internet users, with 16.8 million active on social media. With the rise of internet usage in this country, the risks of internet abuse including cyberbullying becomes ever more prominent. Raising awareness on bullying is alone a topic that requires much attention, especially with recent high profile cases involving the death of a student in Penang and Melaka.

This year, Digi continues to work closely with partners such as CyberSecurity Malaysia, PDRM, UNICEF as well as supporting MDEC and the Ministry of Education through several initiatives such as creating a digital citizenship module to be used in schools’ co-curriculum activities and engaging content for #mydigitalmaker Mobile Learning Unit, which will travel to more than 50 rural schools this year.

Survey Findings

The  survey which was conducted among 96 undergraduate students, the first for this age segment revealed insights on their internet behaviour and experience. Purpose of this survey was also to identify the level of awareness and experience with cyberbullying .

Key findings

• 98% of these undergraduates are superusers (high daily usage) of the internet.
• About 90% of them agree they are at a risk of being cyberbullied and 86% to the risk of being sexually harassed online, with 40% of them not knowing how to protect themselves if these incidents occur.
• 79% reported high encounter of inappropriate language online and as many as 51% of them admitted to being a cyberbullying victim, at least once on each of the various mediums such as social media, and social chat. 65% admitted to receiving nasty messages in multiplayer online games and 25% have been a victim of sexual harassment in social media.
• 38% of these undergraduates have tried to fix the problem but more than half of them have kept quiet, hoping that cyberbullying will stop, rather than consult a trusted adult on this matter.
• A worrying average of 59% feel that meeting in person someone they befriended online is not wrong and about 23% have admitted to doing so.
• In spite of the high percentages, digital resiliency skills are still relatively low with only 35% admitting to using privacy settings, 37% using the blocking tool and 27% reporting the problem. A quarter admitted to doing none of the above.

Again the dipstick survey shows the low level of awareness and show how cyberbullying has the potential to escalate amongst this segment of youth. Digi has started a campaign “Cyber Hero” which  requests everyone to change their profile picture and spread spreading the message.