May 2021 - Monthly Report

Introduction
Between 01 May and 31 May the OSC received a total of 39 complaints lodged with the Commission.

Platform Insight

The following is a breakdown of the online platforms that abuse was reported about from the above mentioned reports.

Facebook and Messenger continue to be the top two platforms on which online abuse was reported about. “Other” this month refers to adult websites containing explicit content and Snap-chat.

Complainant Insight

Below are disintegrated information about the complainants who reported to the Commission.

Reports by Sex Groups:

As highlighted, women made up the majority of complainants this month.

Reports by Age Groups:

The majority of complainants were between the age of 35 and 44 years old, although 5% of complainants did not disclose their age. The average age of complainants this month was 34 years old.

Reports by Location:

The following information is based on the residential address provided by the complainant.

Reports were primarily received from individuals in the Central Division this month with 36% from the Western Division and 8% from the Northern Division.

This month the majority of reports were lodged face to face at the office of the Online Safety Commission. Emails and mobile phone calls represented strong secondary forms that complainants used.

Type of Issue Reported

Below is a representation of the type of issue that was being reported about.

“Other” refers to (1) reports by individuals who had logged on to online platforms on family/friends electronic devices and could not determine whether they logged out, therefore leaving the profile accessible on those devices which were resolved by logging out of all devices and advising the complainant to change their password, (2) reports of emails that were being accessed in an unauthorized manner, and (3) comments, posts and messages that were related to family affairs that were then being discussed on platforms that affected the complainant. These reports made up the majority of the type of issue reported to the OSC, followed by communication that was deemed defamatory in nature and image based abuse content.

Complaint Status:

Resolved complaints were primarily by way of actionable advice and empowering individuals to be familiar with the safety features of their devices and user profiles. Insufficient matters are complaints that did not respond or provide the Commission with any evidence of the alleged harmful content. Referred complaints were directed to the Fiji Police Force as they pertain to explicit content that were posted and removed and others that were shared on adult sites.

Other Observation:

74% of women who reported to the OSC experienced online abuse on Facebook and Messenger while 81% of men experienced theirs on the same platforms. With regards to the type of issues faced by men and women, the majority of men reported issues related to unauthorized access to devices or profiles while 31% reported comments and posts that were defamatory in nature and 6% reporting image based abuse. On the other hand, 22% of women reported image based abuse while 30% reported issues of comments and posts that were defamatory in nature.