How common is cyberbullying among children in Australia?

¹ _{Under the legislation, which came into effect on 10 December 2025, age-restricted social media platforms must take reasonable steps to prevent Australian children under 16 from creating or holding accounts.}

² _{Part of a nationally representative survey of 3,454 children aged 10 to 17 years living in Australia between December 2024 and February 2025.} 

³ _{For more information about the methodology of the research, see the methodology report.}

⁴ _{Sources: G.1.1 and G.1.2 Q: Has anyone online ever done any of the following things to you on purpose because they really wanted to humiliate you or make you feel bad, or make others not like you? Important - answer ‘yes’ to these questions only if you think the person did these things to you on purpose, because they really wanted to humiliate you, or make you feel bad, or make others not like you.}

⁵ _{The smaller sample size for trans and gender-diverse children should be considered when interpreting these findings (n=83).}

⁶ _{‘Sexually diverse’ includes participants who identified their sexual orientation as 'gay or lesbian’, ‘bisexual’, ‘queer’, ‘asexual’, ‘pansexual’ or that they are ‘still working it out’. Sexuality was asked only of children aged 13 to 17.}

⁷ _{Arrows denote statistically significant differences between sub-groups. The proportion of children aged 13 to 15 and 16 to 17 who had ever or in the past 12 months experienced cyberbullying didn’t differ significantly.}

⁸ _{A subset of children who had experienced cyberbullying (n=696) were asked further questions about their most recent or impactful experience of cyberbullying.}

⁹  _{Q: Keep thinking about the last time someone [RECENT EXPERIENCE]. Who did this? You can choose more than one answer.}

¹⁰ _{Q: Think now about the last time someone you already knew in real life [RECENT EXPERIENCE]. Who did this? You can choose more than one answer.}

¹¹ _{Q: thinking about the last time someone [RECENT EXPERIENCE]. How old do you think the person who did this was? You can choose more than one answer.}

¹² _{Q: Think just about the last time someone [RECENT EXPERIENCE]. Which platform did this happen to you on? You can choose more than one answer.}

¹³ _{Platforms reported by <5% of children combined as ‘Another online platform’.}

¹⁴ _{Q: Keep thinking about the last time someone [RECENT EXPERIENCE]. Where did this happen to you? You can choose more than one answer.}

¹⁵ _{Q: When people do hurtful or upsetting things online to others, they may do it once, or they may do it again and again. Keep thinking about the last time someone [RECENT EXPERIENCE]. How many times did the same person do this, or something similar to this, to you online? If you’re not sure, choose the answer that seems about right.}

¹⁶ _{Q: The last time someone [RECENT EXPERIENCE], did it only happen online, or was the same person also doing things like this to you in real life?}

¹⁷ _{Q: Keep thinking about the last time someone [RECENT EXPERIENCE]. How did you feel? You can choose more than one answer.}

¹⁸ _{Q: Keep thinking about the last time someone [RECENT EXPERIENCE]. Did you have any difficulties because of this experience? You can choose more than one answer.}