Following Safer Internet Day, Microsoft has released its annual Global Online Safety Survey. This year marks the 10th year Microsoft has invested in surveying teens and adults around the world about their experiences and perceptions of life online. Continuing to evolve the survey as the world changes, this year’s questions focused on the complexity of the digital environment and evolving online safety risks.
One of the key findings was that, despite teens’ exposure to risk rising again, these teens have demonstrated striking resilience: 77% of South African teens talked to someone after experiencing a risk, and reporting behaviour increased for the second consecutive year.
“At Microsoft, safety isn’t an afterthought, it’s a design principle. As we enter an era shaped by next‑generation AI, our mission is clear: to build technology that is safe by design, transparent in practice, and empowering every user. At a time when 96% of South Africans surveyed tell us they worry about the harms introduced by AI, this commitment has never been more important, especially for our youngest users. We will continue to innovate responsibly, grounded in partnership and education, so individuals and families can navigate the digital world with confidence,” says Kerissa Varma, Chief Security Advisor at Microsoft Africa.
To support teens and build strong guardrails, Microsoft continuously evolves its approach to provide thoughtful safety solutions. Microsoft has also shared new, updated resources to help families and educators around the world with this important undertaking:
- Minecraft Education’s CyberSafe: Bad Connection?, the new educational game reflects Microsoft’s commitment to evolving to meet new and challenging risks, with a focus on tackling serious risks related to online recruitment and radicalisation.
- Microsoft Family Safety startup guide: A short guide to help parents set up and understand Family Safety. As many countries have raised the local age for digital consent, more parents will have the option to enable parental controls for teens up to the age of 18.
Building on this commitment to safeguarding young people and empowering those who support them, Microsoft South Africa is also investing in broader community‑focused initiatives that make digital learning more accessible and inclusive for all.
The company’s recently announced collaboration with SABC Plus creates an accessible, community‑wide pathway to strengthen digital confidence by bringing AI fluency and digital literacy training directly into the homes and daily lives of millions. By integrating refreshed learning modules and practical, credentialed pathways into a platform already used by over 1.9 million people, the initiative helps teens, seniors, and the broader public build essential tech skills at their own pace. This expanded access not only boosts digital comfort and resilience across generations but also ensures inclusive participation in an increasingly AI‑driven society.
You can find more information and complete survey results here. A few interesting data points for South Africa are below.
Online risks are evolving:
This year’s findings highlight the complexity of the digital environment young people now inhabit.
- Seventy-nine percent of respondents experienced at least one significant online risk in the past year.
- The number one worry for most age groups is online fraud and scams, including 39% of Gen X and Boomers, while teens are most concerned about cyberbullying (45%).
- Teens’ exposure to risk rose again, with hate speech (50%), online fraud/scams (44%), and graphic violence/gore (42%) among the most commonly experienced harms.
Teens are taking proactive steps to respond to online risks:
Microsoft’s data confirms that after a specific risk happens, teens do speak to parents and block threats.
- Teens demonstrated striking resilience: 77% talked to someone after experiencing a risk, and reporting behavior increased for the second consecutive year – 91% of teens took defensive action by blocking and closing accounts.
- Most teens are ready to respond to deepfake intimate imagery: 99% would advise friends to report and seek support.
- To help more teens report harms to an online platform, they would like guaranteed anonymity (59%), it to be easier to find reporting options (54%), and assurance the report will be reviewed (51%).
Generative AI is being adopted rapidly but concerns are also rising
Microsoft’s findings show that excitement about generative AI capabilities increased over the past year. The survey found that 55% of respondents are AI users, 17% are experimenters, and 28% are non‑users, with South Africa ranking just behind India, Brazil and South Korea in Generative AI adoption.
- Forty-six percent of respondents now use generative AI weekly or more, up from 21% in 2023. Adoption is highest among university graduates and Gen Z.
- Generative AI’s exciting uses include answering questions (62%), helping with planning (61%), and helping with efficiency at work (59%).
- But worries about the misuse of AI continue, underscoring again why safety-by-design for AI is essential, not optional. Ninety-six percent of respondents expressed some level of worry about AI’s impact. Top concerns include scams (81%), sexual/online abuse (79%), and data privacy (75%), while confidence in spotting deepfakes has plummeted with only 30% of respondents feeling able to reliably distinguish real from AI-generated images, and most failing when judging image authenticity.
Content moderation: High expectations, mixed satisfaction
- Seventy-nine percent of respondents want tech companies to restrict illegal and harmful content across different types of platforms, while only 29% believe companies are blocking too much content.
- The most requested safety features are filtering/blurring sexual content (67%), restricting messages to known contacts (61%), and default private profiles (47%).
The internet has changed profoundly over the past decade and so too have the expectations of the people who use it. Safer Internet Day is a reminder that progress requires sustained collaboration across industry, civil society, researchers, and families.
