People are more likely to be jerks on social media in less democratic and less economically equal countries

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-04-03 20:00

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European researchers say people living in less democratic and less economically equal countries are more likely to experience hostility online. The team looked at over 15,000 surveys from 30 countries about people's experiences with online hostility, and suggest that less democratic societies include more status-motivated individuals and young men - groups that show more hostility on average, they say. Additionally, the team found that, in every country they looked at, the respondents who were hostile online were also hostile offline, and these people scored higher on questions that inferred status-seeking motivations.