Canadians want more done to curb abuse on social media

A new poll indicates significant splits in gender and age when it comes to where Canadians draw the line at offensive behaviour.

Heavy social media users tend to be less shocked by online abuse. So do younger users and younger men.

Tech companies are under growing pressure to tackle online bullying.

In May, Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey told the BBC that addressing abuse on the platform was a priority.

A new survey by the Angus Reid Institute looks into Canadian attitudes towards social media misbehaviour.

It found that one in four Canadians reported being subjected to behaviour ranging from the mean to the extreme - from unwelcome comments to violent threats and sexual harassment.

Among younger, heavy social media users, 50% reported being harassed. Almost 60% of LGBT users said they had experienced some form of online abuse.

That left many respondents calling on the companies to do more to curb abusive or bullying behaviour, including 49% who said they wanted to see the platforms proactively seek out and remove offensive material.

"Canadians do seem to have an expectations of social media companies they're not feeling is being met," said Shachi Kurl, executive director of the Angus Reid Institute, a Canadian not-for-profit research and polling organisation.

But she also noted there was a "diversity of views" on just how far social media companies should go to police content - and just what was considered acceptable.

The Institute showed respondents five examples of online interactions, ranging from an angry tweet directed towards a journalist to a racist tweet sent to Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones.

Respondents who had been personally harassed online had a higher bar for what they found unacceptable compared to other users.

"People who do say, 'Yes, it's happened to me' are more likely to also say 'this is okay,'" said Ms Kurl.

"There is almost a sense [that] exposure can numb shock or outrage, a sense of inappropriateness."

Despite men reporting being targeted just as often as women, young Canadian men were most likely to take a laissez-faire approach to online harrassment.

"There are some stark differences, no doubt about it," said Ms Kurl.

"You see a pretty big difference on age, full stop. And then when you look at what younger men think is OK versus what younger women think is OK, again there's some big differences. Both age and gender are drivers."