Risky Online Behaviour Normalised Among Youth: EU Study

EU Study suggests risky online behaviour rising in Europe 

Criminal and risky online behaviour is under threat of becoming normalized among a generation of young people throughout Europe. The findings come from a European Union (EU) funded research that found one in four in 16- to 19-year-olds have trolled someone online and one in three have engaged in digital piracy.

An EU-funded study discovered proof of widespread risky, delinquent, and criminal among the 16-19 age group in nine European countries which includes the UK. 

The survey took 8000 participants to study online trolling 

A survey of 8000 young participants suggests that one out four has trolled someone on the web, one out of eight were involved in online harassment, and one out of ten were involved in hacking or hate speech, one out of five were involved in sexting, and one out of three were involved in digital piracy. The survey also suggests four out of ten were involved in watching pornography. 

Risky and criminal online behaviour has become almost normalized in young people of Europe, said Julia Davidson, a co-author of the research and professor of criminology at the University of East London (UEL). 

What the does the survey findings suggest?

The research suggests that a big proportion of youth in the EU are getting involved in some kind of cybercrime to such a level that doing low-level crimes on web and online-risk taking has almost become normal nowadays. 

Davidson said that the research findings said the research findings hint at more male involvement in criminal or risky behaviour, around three quarters of male have accepted involvement in some form of online risk-taking or cybercrime, in comparison to 65% of females. 

The Guards reports, "The survey asked young people about 20 types of behaviour online, including looking at pornographic material, posting revenge porn, making self-generated sexual images and posting hate speech. According to the survey findings, just under half of participants engaged in behaviour that could be considered criminal in most jurisdictions, such as hacking, non-consensual sharing of intimate images or “money muling” – where someone receives money from a third party and passes it on, in a practice linked to the proceeds of cybercrime." 

Youth involved in online harrasment in European countries 

The survey consists of 9 countries, these are: UK, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Romania. The country that has the highest proportion of "cyberdeviancy" is Spain at 75%, followed by Romania, Germany, and Netherlands. The UK is at the last position at 58%. Cyberdeviancy, according to the survey, means a mixture of criminal and non-criminal risky behaviours. 

"The survey, conducted by a research agency with previously used sample groups, found that half of 16- to 19-year-olds spent four to seven hours a day online, with nearly four out of 10 spending more than eight hours a day online, primarily on phones. It found that the top five platforms among the group were YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp, TikTok and Snapchat," Guardian said.