BITS Pilani Study Warns of Rising Online Abuse

Hyderabad: Nearly five billion people now use social media worldwide, with children forming a large share of that base. A peer‑reviewed study from BITS Pilani Hyderabad campus links this expansion to the rise of cyberbullying and its lasting impact on young users.

Published in New Generation Computing, the paper is authored by Utsav Seth, Sandeep Ravikanti and Jay Dave of the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems. It reviews global data on online networks and shows how platforms that enable connection also create space for harassment, impersonation, exclusion and doxing.

Dave said cyberbullying has grown alongside platform scale and design. “Online social networks are structured for rapid sharing and visibility. When abuse happens in such spaces, it spreads faster and reaches wider audiences,” he noted, adding that the permanence of digital content makes harm more enduring than offline bullying.

The study outlines psychological effects including anxiety, depression, social withdrawal and, in extreme cases, suicidal ideation among adolescents. It highlights how anonymity and peer pressure make teenagers particularly vulnerable.

Seth said detection tools are advancing but remain imperfect. “Machine learning systems can identify abusive language patterns, but they struggle with context, sarcasm and coded expressions,” he observed, stressing that detection is necessary but not sufficient.

Ravikanti pointed to research gaps. “There is a need for more longitudinal studies and more research from non‑Western settings, including India, to understand long‑term academic and mental health consequences,” he said. The paper calls for integrated responses combining technology, school‑level awareness, parental engagement and clearer policy enforcement to address the scale and complexity of online abuse.