Social Media and Cybercrime: A Sociodemographic Study of Awareness Level Among Indian Youth
Pushkar Dubey, Srijan Pateriya · 2023
Purpose: Social media platforms will be the town square of tomorrow’s global community. Social media has reduced us all to the size of neurons in a vast brain. In recent years, people’s usage of various social media platforms has become both a benefit and a scourge. Furthermore, as the usage of these platforms develops, so does the necessity to protect our personal information and data. All of us must understand how to prevent dangers, risks, and cybercrime and how to be watchful, proactive, and aware of cybercriminals’ actions. Because of technological advancements, humans are now entirely dependent on various social media platforms for connectivity and everyday activities. May it is comfort, shopping, chatting, education, etc., we all are in some way or rather part of the social media settings (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc.). The likeliness of increasing usage has provided opportunities to encounter fraudulent practices among hackers and potential criminals to practice “cybercrime”. Thus being aware is the best practice to stay out of such activities. The study investigates the level of “awareness” related to cybercrime using various social media platforms in India. The study identifies the congruence and divergence of various sociodemographic factors like age, family income, usage rate, locale (urban and rural), education level, etc., among youth concerning their awareness of fraudulent practices through the social media platform. Design/methodology/approach: The primary data for the study includes data from 414 youth respondents across different locales in India through an adapted version of a structured questionnaire. The study procedure incorporated a purposive sampling technique with inclusion and exclusion measures. The measurement model was confirmed with the help of confirmatory factor analysis measure with validation of three broad constructs. Inferential statistics were used to determine the mean difference across varying sociodemographic profiles of the respondents to test the difference in their awareness level concerning information, experience, and cybercrime scores. Findings : The study results exhibit significant perceptual differences with all levels of socio-demography, that is, for information, experience, and cybercrime score. Higher age, high usage rate of social media, higher family income, urban locale, and female group were found to have a higher degree of awareness of cybercrime. Originality/value : There is a lack of research in the knowledge domain, especially in testing the awareness level of “cybercrime” among youth in India. The sociodemographic study is one of its kind to penetrate among youth “awareness” level. The outcomes are beneficial to maneuver the existing gap in research areas with a contribution to the existing theory.