Child pornography and online racial hatred are less likely to be reported by the Maltese than if their Facebook account was hacked, a recent study found.

A Eurobarometer study published yesterday found that Maltese internet users were more likely to report problems with their social media account than child pornography and other serious cyber crime.

The study identified trends in online security concerns across all 28 member states.

Some 85 per cent of local respondents said they would tell somebody about a possible hack of their social media account compared to 65 per cent who said they would report cases of online racial hatred or religious extremism –10 per cent below the EU average.

62 per cent were worried about the safety of online transactions

Some 20 per cent said they would tell no one if they accidently came across child pornography and five per cent declared they would report it to the website operator, half the EU average.

Maltese respondents were among the least concerned with child pornography among all member states. Some 75 per cent said they would inform the police, followed by Estonia (69 per cent) and Romania (33 per cent).

Only one per cent of the Maltese interviewed felt the consumer authority could do anything about it, compared to the EU’s 10 per cent average. Malta’s rate is the lowest.

Social media security was high on the local online users’ priority list.

The number of respondents in Malta who said they were “very concerned” about the security of their account was nearly double that across the EU. Some 60 per cent said this was a constant priority for them, compared to 45 per cent across the rest of the member states.

The same applies to online financial fraud, with Maltese respondents rating as the EU’s third most concerned online bankers. Some 62 per cent said they were worried about the safety of online transactions compared to 45 per cent across the EU.

Despite the recent call for a policy to address cyber bullying, an impressive 83 per cent of Maltese said they and their family had never encountered any form of online harassment. Some 60 per cent declared they were not concerned about this at all.

Overall, Maltese users felt fairly confident in their ability to use online services.

About 44 per cent said they had mastered online shopping, banking and a number of other “reasonably complicated” tasks, 17 per cent above the EU average.