Yükseköğretim Düzeyindeki İnternet Kullanıcılarının Sanal Nefret Farkındalıkları: Kültürlerarası Bir Çalışma: A Cross-Cultural Study

The present study aimed to determine a group of tertiary level Internet users' knowledge of how to react to cyberhate in relation to certain independent variables such as gender, country, socio-economic status, educational background and frequency of social media use. A correlation survey method was adopted throughout the study to examine the awareness levels of Internet users regarding how to react to cyberhate. The participants of the study were determined by purposive sampling methods and the data were collected from 427 Internet users affiliated to two universities in Turkey and the United States. The most obvious finding emerged from the study was that a vast majority of the participants are not aware of cyberhate and are not equipped with the knowledge and skills to effectively fight against to racism or protect themselves from racist, discriminative, abusive, or harassing behavior online. The results also revealed that cyberhate awareness of Internet users varies according to the gender, socio-cultural environment and educational background.