Facebook bullying 'most rampant in Australia'

Melbourne, Jan 17 (ANI): Australia is the world's worst place for kids to use social networks, ith nine in 10 families reporting a child's brush with bullies, a new study has revealed

The Ipsos Social Research Institute survey on cyber bullying says nearly every Australian family as had a brush with harassment on Facebook, the Herald Sun reported.

The research comes just a week after a Victorian schoolgirl named Sheniz Erkan took her own ife after being tormented by Facebook bullies.

The Australian figure of 87 per cent was far ahead of the global average of six in 10 families.

"Australian children were less likely to experience bullying in an online chat room, via email, or n their mobile phone, compared to global averages - but were more likely than any other ation to experience bullying via social networking sites, such as Facebook," said Ipsos director yan Williams.

That "significant deviation" was a concern for parents, but overall Australian kids were the fifth ost affected by general cyber bullying in a study of 24 countries.

Australia ranked 15th for mobile devices, 22nd for online chat, 17th for emails, 20th for instant essages, 21st for general websites and 18th for other forms of technology.

But no Australian parent reported bullying was a persistent issue with their children. (ANI)