Online victimisation in digital environments: A study on social media users

This study examines the proportion of reported online victimisation experiences among social media users in Türkiye and identifies demographic and behavioural factors associated with these experiences.

Using a quantitative, correlational approach, a cross-sectional survey was conducted with individuals aged 18 and over who actively use at least one social media platform. Data were collected through a three-part online questionnaire assessing socio-demographic characteristics, social media usage patterns, and online victimisation experience. Participants were recruited via convenience and snowball sampling, and the data were analysed using binary logistic regression.

In the primary analysis, 77.3% (n = 621) of participants reported at least one listed online victimisation experience at a frequency of "Rarely" or higher. Gender, income level, and use of Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Swarm were significantly associated with victimisation. In a sensitivity analysis using a stricter threshold of "Sometimes" or higher, the proportion classified as victims decreased to 54.4% (n = 437). Associations with Facebook, Twitter, and Swarm remained statistically significant, whereas several demographic and other platform-related associations varied according to the outcome threshold.

Online victimisation was associated with selected demographic and platform-use characteristics. Associations involving Facebook, Twitter, and Swarm were comparatively robust across alternative definitions of victimisation, whereas several demographic and other platform-related associations were sensitive to the operational threshold. Given the cross-sectional, non-probability sampling design and the absence of a defined recall period, the findings should be interpreted as exploratory associations rather than causal or population-level estimates.