In the modern day technology era, more than two thirds of young people have experienced bullying, harassment or viewed distressing content online. A study carried out by the Digital Youth Index found that 69% of young people aged between eight and 25 have said that they’ve experienced upsetting content online with platforms such as Twitter, Reddit, TikTok and Instagram being the most common to find it.
The research also found that minority groups are the most vulnerable to receiving abuse online- finding that the LGBTQI+ community are nearly twice as likely (52%) to experience hate speech online compared to those who identify as heterosexual.
Coronation Street actor and recent winner of NTA award Paddy Beaver said that being in the public eye makes him more susceptible to online abuse. He said: “I think it comes with the job, everyone in this industry is going to receive hate online. The haters will pick on anything. I think it’s awful.
“I used to want to see what everyone was saying about me when I first started on Coronation Street but it made me really miserable and damaged my confidence, it made me think I didn’t deserve to be on telly. I stopped looking for hateful comments after a while because at the end of the day even the best actors get hate.”
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