Think the internet is toxic? These EU countries have it the worst

Key takeaways:

Nearly half of EU internet users encountered hostile content online.
Ireland recorded the highest share of such content – while Latvia recorded the lowest.
Anti-racism watchdog calls for stronger action across Europe, warning of rising levels of hate speech.

In 2025, 42.3% of EU-based internet users encountered hostile content online – here are the most affected countries.

The latest data from Eurostat, based on information from 20 EU countries, shows a concerning trend: almost half of users have come across messages considered hostile or degrading towards specific groups of people or individuals.

In seven EU countries, more than half encountered such content. The highest shares were recorded in Ireland (66.2%), Hungary (60.9%), Finland (56.7%), and Slovakia (56.2%).

By contrast, the lowest shares were noted in Latvia (29.3%), Greece (29.4%), Germany (33.7%), and Lithuania (33.8%).

The nature of the messages varied, but Eurostat noted some trends. The most commonly recorded messages targeted people based on their political or social views (33.7%), racial and ethnic origin (25.5%), sexual orientation (23.4%), and religion or belief (22.8%).

Smaller shares of users encountered other types of hateful content, such as messages targeting people based on sex (16.9%), disability (11.5%), age (8.8%), or other personal characteristics (8.5%).

While the current study focuses on how often people encounter hostile content online, earlier data from a study published in the journal PNAS Nexus showed how we tend to perceive it. Specifically, it found that people often significantly overestimate how common online toxic behavior is.

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In a survey of 1,090 American adults, participants thought that 43% of all Reddit users have posted severely toxic content, when in reality it was only 3.1%. A similar pattern was observed on Facebook, where participants believed that 47% of users had shared false news online, while the actual figure was closer to 8.5%.

Nonetheless, online hate speech remains a serious issue. The annual report by the Council of Europe’s anti-racism commission (ECRI) warned of rising levels of racist, anti-LGBTI, and other forms of hate speech across Europe, particularly online. It added that the New Democratic Pact for Europe could help reinforce anti-hate principles and uphold democratic standards across the continent.