Tertiary-Level Internet Users’ Awareness on Cyberhate: A Cross-Cultural Study
Abstract
The present study aimed to determine a group of tertiary level Internet users’ knowledge of how to react to cyberhate in relation to certain independent variables such as gender, country, socio-economic status, educational background and frequency of social media use. A correlation survey method was adopted throughout the study to examine the awareness levels of Internet users regarding how to react to cyberhate. The participants of the study were determined by purposive sampling methods and the data were collected from 427 Internet users affiliated to two universities in Turkey and the United States. The most obvious finding emerged from the study was that a vast majority of the participants are not aware of cyberhate and are not equipped with the knowledge and skills to effectively fight against to racism or protect themselves from racist, discriminative, abusive, or harassing behavior online. The results also revealed that cyberhate awareness of Internet users varies according to the gender, socio-cultural environment and educational background.
Keywords
References
- Anti-Defamation League. (2010). Responding to Cyberhate: A Toolkit for Action. Retrieved from http://www.adl.org/assets/pdf/combating-hate/ADL-Responding-to-Cyberhate-Toolkit.pdf
- Australian Human Rights Commission. (2011). Cyber-racism Symposium Report. Retrieved from https://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/cyber-racism-symposium-report
- Blaya, C. (2019). Cyberhate: A review and content analysis of intervention strategies. Aggression and violent behavior, 45, 163-172.
- British Institute of Human Rights. (2012). Young People Combating Hate Speech On-line: Mapping study on projects against hate speech online. Retrieved from https://www.coe.int/t/dg4/youth/Source/Training/Training_courses/2012_Mapping_projects_against_Hate_Speech.pdf
- Celik, S. (2018). Tertiary-level internet users’ opinions and perceptions of cyberhate. Information Technology & People, 31(3), 845-868.
- Celik, S. (2019). Experiences of internet users regarding cyberhate. Information Technology & People, 32(6), 1446-1471.
- Citron, D. K. (2011). Hate Crimes in Cyber Space. Harvard University Press, MA.
- Clement, J. (2013). Internet Report. Retrieved August 28, 2015 from http://www.statista.com/statistics/273018/number-of-internet-users-worldwide/
Details
Primary Language
English
Subjects
Studies on Education
Journal Section
Research Article
Publication Date
April 28, 2020
Submission Date
May 21, 2019
Acceptance Date
April 6, 2020
Published in Issue
Year 2020 Volume: 49 Number: 1