Cyberbullying has been a major topic in the headlines this year alone. In light of this, Harian Metro has released an infographic showing that Malaysia is among the top countries in the world for cyberbullying.
According to a study conducted by the Market Research Institute (IPSOS), it was found that Malaysia was considered one of the countries with the highest rates of cyberbullying incidents.
For illustration purposes only
Malaysia made it onto both the global and Asia lists
According to the infographic, Malaysia ranks 5th globally for cyberbullying. Peru tops the list, with Argentina close behind in 2nd place and Mexico in 3rd.
Other countries on the list include Brazil in 4th, Britain in 6th, Canada in 7th, and the US in 8th.
Malaysia not only ranked 5th in the world but also came in 2nd in Asia for cyberbullying rates, according to UNICEF, showing the increasing severity of the issue.
Among Asian countries, China leads the way, followed by Singapore in 3rd, India in 4th, and Pakistan in 5th.
Recent cyberbullying cases in Malaysia
One of the more recent cyberbullying incidents that stands out is when Japanese cyclist Shinji Nakano got caught up in Malaysia’s ‘onion army’ (cyberbullies) drama after crashing with Malaysian cyclist Shah Firdaus Sahrom at the recent Paris 2024 Olympics.
Following the incident, thousands of Malaysia’s onion army bombarded the comments on Nakano’s posts. Over 30,000 comments flooded Nakano’s Instagram, mostly from Malaysian social media users voicing their frustration with him.
A similar thing happened with British cyclist Jack Carlin at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. He was said to have crowded Shah Firdaus, which led to a restart of the second-round heat in the keirin event.
The track accident involving Jack Carlin turned into a bigger issue when Malaysian netizens started attacking the British athlete on social media to the point where Carlin had to restrict comments on his Instagram profile.
While this isn’t something to be proud of, let’s take it as a mission to improve and avoid cyberbullying, working together to make the world a better place.
