Te Kete o Karaitiana Taiuru (Blog)

A summary of Māori Internet safety statistics taken from three NetSafe reports from 2019.

Image based sexual abuse report (2019)

Threatening someone with image-based sexual abuse was more common among Asian (8%) and Māori (6%) compared with other ethnic groups.

Parents of NZ European/Pākehā, Māori, and Pacific children were significantly more worried about their children sharing nudes of themselves. On the other hand, having contact with a stranger online was consistently rated highly as a concern by parents of all ethnicities except those of European/Pākehā children.

The rate of parents of Māori children who indicated being angry or upset with the exposure situation was higher compared to the responses from parents of children from other ethnicities.

Summary of Findings

• Overall, nearly 5% of adult New Zealanders said they have personally experienced image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) online.
• IBSA is more common among young adults, especially those aged under 30.
• In general, men and women were equally as likely to experience IBSA online, but the nature of the experiences differ.
• About 4% had someone threaten to share their intimate pictures or videos online. This was more common among those under 30 years old.
• Meanwhile, 3% said their intimate content has actually been shared online. This was higher among:
  females aged 18-29 those who do not identify as heterosexual, and those who identify as Asian
• The sharing of intimate content online without consent was most commonly done by an ex-partner or by a stranger.
• Perceived reasons for IBSA vary, with females indicating it is done for revenge while males say it is intended as a joke or used for extortion.
• 7 in 10 adult New Zealanders agree that those in a relationship should be aware of the risks associated with sharing intimate pictures with a partner.
• People generally lack knowledge of how the law treats cases of IBSA or where to get advice to avoid becoming a target.
• A small majority disagree that the risks of IBSA are overstated.

Children’s exposure to sexually explicit content: Parents’ awareness, attitudes and actions (2019)

Parents of Māori children were more likely to think that exposure to content popping up on the screen was due to the child’s curiosity.

Summary of findings

• Parents’ main online concerns are their children sharing nudes of themselves, being treated in a hurtful way, and seeing sexually explicit content.
• 1 in 5 parents said their children were exposed to sexually explicit content online in the prior year.
• Parents reported children’s exposure to sexually explicit content increased with age; and exposure to sexually explicit content was more common among boys.
• The main reasons parents gave for their child’s exposure to this content were: it popped up on the screen/device, curiosity, and accidental access.
• 39% of parents said they stayed calm after finding their children were exposed to sexually explicit content while 22% were angry, and 10% ignored the situation.
• Most parents believe they know what to do and say if their children access or are exposed to sexually explicit content.
• After a situation occurred, most parents (72%) talked with their children about sexually explicit content on the internet.
• Most parents are confident talking with their children about pornography, while 2 in 10 feel embarrassed. Over half said they discuss sex education and sexuality with their children, while 3 in 10 do not.
• Half of parents know where to access information and resources about children and pornography, while 4 in 10 do not.

Exploring New Zealand children’s internet access, skills and opportunities (2019)

While overall teens regarded themselves as confident technology users, Māori and Asian teens were less confident about their digital competencies compared to other ethnic groups (Pacheco & Melhuish, 2018).

The rate of frequent internet access was higher among children who identified as Asian (83%) compared to other ethnic groups such as NZ European/Pākehā and Māori children, 77% and 78%, respectively. The rate for Pacific children who said they often/always access the internet was 71%.

There was no statistical difference between boys’ and girls’, (97% and96% respectively).
There was no statistical difference between children’s Internet use at home.NZ European/Pākehā (96%), Māori (96%) and Pacific (94%). Going online at home was slightly higher among Asian children (98%).

Children’s knowledge about managing privacy settings shows that Māori (66%), Asian (64%), and NZ European/Pākehā (63%) were more confident about this specific skill, while Pacific children (59%) were less confident.

If Children find it easy to check if the information they find online is true, Asian (60%) and NZ European/Pākehā (58%) children indicated that this was fairly or very true followed by Māori (56%) and Pacific children (52%).