42.3% of people saw hostile messages online in 2025
In 2025, 42.3% of internet users in the EU encountered messages online that they considered hostile and degrading towards specific groups of people or individuals. The EU aggregate is based on 20 countries for which data are available.
In 7 EU countries, more than half of the people encountered such messages. The highest shares were recorded in Hungary (60.9%), Finland (56.7%) and Slovakia (56.2%).
In contrast, the lowest shares were in Latvia (29.3%), Greece (29.4%), Germany (33.7%) and Lithuania (33.8%).
Source dataset: isoc_ci_hm
Hostile and degrading messages targeted different groups of people or individuals. Most people saw messages that targeted people for their political or social views (33.7%), racial and ethnic origin (25.5%), sexual orientation (23.4%) and religion or belief (22.8%). Hostile messages also targeted people based on sex (16.9%), disability (11.5%), age (8.8%), or other personal characteristics (8.5%).
Source dataset: isoc_ci_hm
For more information
- Thematic section on digital economy and society
- Database on digital economy and society
- Digitalisation in Europe – 2026 edition
- Digitalisation dashboard
Methodological notes
- The data in this article are based on the EU survey on the use of ICT in households and by individuals.
- Internet users refer to all people aged 16 to 74 who used the internet in the 3 months before the survey.
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