According to a recent research by comparitech.com, 23 per cent of Malaysian parents polled believed their child has been a victim of cyberbullying at least once in 2018. — AFP pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 27 — Malaysia jumped straight to sixth place in a survey measuring cyberbullying among 28 countries, reaching the ignoble height on its very first attempt.

According to a research by tech compare and reviews site comparitech.com, 23 per cent of Malaysian parents polled believed their child has been a victim of cyberbullying at least once in 2018.

Out of the 28 countries surveyed, Malaysia was ranked the second worst in Asia, better than India (37 per cent) but worse than Saudi Arabia (19 per cent), China (17 per cent), South Korea (13 per cent), and Japan.

“While better connecting the world and democratising information, the internet has also allowed individuals to hide behind masks of anonymity. The ‘faceless evil’ of the internet is a growing threat for teens, specifically when it comes (to) cyberbullying.

“Despite a more recent ramping up of awareness campaigns, cyberbullying facts and statistics indicate the problem is not going away anytime soon,” the firm said in a statement accompanying the results.

The research was conducted through 20,793 interviews from March 23 to April 6, and polled adults aged 18 to 64 in the United States and Canada, and adults aged 16 to 64 in all other countries.

Indian parents remained among the most likely to express confidence that their children were cyberbullied at least sometimes.

Across Europe and the Americas, it also appears more parents are either becoming aware of their children’s negative experiences with cyberbullying, or their children are increasingly experiencing such attacks online.

In both Japan and Russia, parents expressed extremely high levels of confidence that their children did not experience cyberbullying of any kind with only 5 per cent and 1 per cent respectively.