Frequency of cyberbullying higher in India: Report

The frequency of cyberbullying of children in India is higher than that in western nations, including the US, with more three out of 10 Indian parents saying their children have been a victim, a survey by research firm Ipsos today said.

Cyberbullying refers to intentionally intimidating, offending, threatening or embarrassing those under 18 years of age using technologies like websites, chat rooms, or phones.

As part of a global poll, the survey found more than three out of 10 parents (32 per cent) in India saying their children have been victims of cyberbullying.

The findings also disclosed that 45 per cent of Indian parents believed a child in their community was being cyberbullied, while a majority (53 per cent) of parents online in India are aware of the issue.

"The findings are quite surprising, which revealed that the frequency of cyberbullying in India was higher than that of western nations including the US (15 per cent of children), UK (11 per cent of children) and France (5 per cent of children)," Ipsos India Head (Marketing Communications) Biswarup Banerjee said.

In the US, the phenomenon of cyberbullying has often been linked to teen suicides.
The online Ipsos poll of more than 18,000 adults in 24 countries, 6,500 of whom were parents, showed the most widely reported vehicle for cyberbullying was social networking sites like Facebook, which were cited by 60 per cent, followed by mobile devices and online chat rooms.

In India, this was evenly split between social networking sites like Facebook (55 per cent) and online chat rooms (54 per cent).