Significant rates of exposure to hostile or derogatory content on the internet are recorded in Cyprus, according to Eurostat data for 2025.
At the level of the European Union, exposure to hostile or derogatory content occurs more often among younger ages, with trends varying by member state.
In the case of Cyprus, almost 4 out of 10 internet users said they had encountered such content in the last three months. In particular, in the 25-34 age group, the percentage amounts to 49.47%.
For the ages between 16-24, 35.87% were confronted with hostile or derogatory messages, while for the ages 45-54, it amounted to 38.76%. The total percentage of internet users in Cyprus who experienced hostile or derogatory messages amounted to 38.98%. 31.52% were confronted with hostile or derogatory comments for political or social reasons, 29.10% concerned the sexual orientation of the users and 26.2% were related to racial or ethnic origin.
According to the Agency, at EU level, 54.0% of internet users aged 25-34 and 53.7% of people aged 16-24 said they were confronted with hostile or derogatory messages directed against specific groups or individuals.
Exposure to such content gradually decreased as age increased. The percentage stood at 46.4% for people aged 35-44, 38.9% for the age group 45-54, 32.8% for citizens aged 55-64 and 28.1% for those aged 65-74.
Eurostat notes that, despite the fact that the 25-34 age group recorded a marginally higher percentage, young people aged 16-24 are considered particularly vulnerable to exposure to such content and for this reason the analysis focuses specifically on this group.
The data shows that among internet users aged 16-24, 57.2% of young women reported being exposed to hostile or derogatory online messages, compared to 50.4% of young men.
According to Eurostat, the same pattern was recorded in all categories of hostile content. The most frequent forms of messages concerned political or social views and racial or ethnic origin. In particular, 42.5% of young women and 39.3% of young men stated that they saw hostile content related to political or social views, while the corresponding percentages for messages related to racial or ethnic origin amounted to 38.2% and 35.6%.
Greater gender differences were recorded in content related to sexual orientation, gender and disability. In particular, 37.8% of young women reported exposure to hostile messages about sexual orientation, compared to 32.6% of young men. For gender-related content, the percentages stood at 30.9% and 24.9% respectively, while for disability-related messages at 23.0% for women and 19.3% for men.
