More than half (64 per cent) of Australian teens experienced a risk online last year including cyberbullying, misinformation and disinformation, and threats of violence, according to Microsoft’s annual Global Online Safety Survey, recently released.
The ninth iteration of Microsoft’s annual report, launched today on Safer Internet Day, reveals insights into how teens and parents perceive and experience online risks.
The survey, which includes responses from nearly 15,000 teens and adults globally, including 1,000 from Australia, showed the top risks that Australian teenagers faced online in 2024 include:
- 54 per cent of Australian teens have faced personal risks such as cyberbullying, hate speech and threats of violence
- 44 per cent have been exposed to misinformation and disinformation in the past year
- 38 per cent have been faced with violent content such as violence and extremist content
While these numbers have remained steady year over year, teens are feeling less worried about cyberbullying, harassment or abuse than the year prior, down from 70 per cent in 2023 to 38 per cent over 2024. Meanwhile parents are becoming more attuned to the risks teenagers face, with the data showing an increase in understanding of children’s digital challenges.
When faced with a risk online, 73 per cent of surveyed teens say they block, mute or unfriend, while they are increasingly likely to turn to parents or find someone else to speak to after experiencing a risk online (65 per cent, up from 59 per cent the year prior).
Respondents quizzed on detecting AI generated images
This year’s report has also revealed a rising use of generative AI among Australian teens, with 28 per cent saying they have used AI in the past three months, up from 18 per cent the year prior.
While teen respondents expressed excitement about generative AI to help with tasks like translation, answering questions and being more efficient, more than 80 per cent of surveyed parents worry that AI usage will expose teens to inappropriate or harmful content and misinformation and disinformation. This is echoed by teens, with nearly three quarters worried about generative AI-related scams, sexual or online abuse and deepfakes.
With the increased use of generative AI, Microsoft has also used this as an opportunity to quiz respondents on their ability to identify AI-generated content, using images from its “Real or Not” quiz tool. The data showed that only 38 per cent of images were identified correctly, with 73 per cent of respondents admitting that spotting AI-generated images is hard.
This quiz is available for free today for anyone looking to test their AI image detection skills or support others to.
