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Trolling and Safety Fears Plague Many Young Women Online, UK Study Finds

A woman shows a screen of her smartphone in Abuja, Nigeria September 21, 2020. (Reuters)
A woman shows a screen of her smartphone in Abuja, Nigeria September 21, 2020. (Reuters)
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Trolling and Safety Fears Plague Many Young Women Online, UK Study Finds

A woman shows a screen of her smartphone in Abuja, Nigeria September 21, 2020. (Reuters)
A woman shows a screen of her smartphone in Abuja, Nigeria September 21, 2020. (Reuters)

Young women are more concerned about the mental health impact of being online than other internet users, with many citing personal safety fears and the harm caused by trolling, a study by Britain's media watchdog has found.

Regulators and activists across the world are increasingly calling on Big Tech companies to tackle hate speech on online platforms, a plea echoed by the head of Britain's Ofcom regulator as she unveiled the report on internet usage.

"The message from women who go online is loud and clear," Ofcom Chief Executive Melanie Dawes said in a statement on Wednesday.

"They are less confident about their personal online safety, and feel the negative effects of harmful content like trolling more deeply."

The report found that women aged 18-34 were more likely than any other group to report a negative overall impact on mental health, with 23% of them disagreeing that being online has a positive effect on their mental health.

In comparison, 45% of men over the age of 18 agreed with that statement, while boys aged 13-17 were most likely to agree with it.

Dawes urged large tech companies to take women's online safety concerns seriously.

The research, which was conducted last year and surveyed more than 6,000 people, found that 60% of female users who had experienced trolling said they were bothered or offended by it, compared to just 25% of men.

The study also found that women feel less able to have a voice and share opinions online.

The sites and apps most visited by adults were owned by Alphabet, the owner of Google and YouTube. That was followed by Meta, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, and Amazon.

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Apple Airlifted iPhones Worth a Record $2 Billion from India in March as Trump Tariffs Loomed

A man walks past a poster of an Apple iPhone 16 at a store in Denpasar on Indonesia's resort island of Bali on April 12, 2025. (AFP)
A man walks past a poster of an Apple iPhone 16 at a store in Denpasar on Indonesia's resort island of Bali on April 12, 2025. (AFP)
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Apple Airlifted iPhones Worth a Record $2 Billion from India in March as Trump Tariffs Loomed

A man walks past a poster of an Apple iPhone 16 at a store in Denpasar on Indonesia's resort island of Bali on April 12, 2025. (AFP)
A man walks past a poster of an Apple iPhone 16 at a store in Denpasar on Indonesia's resort island of Bali on April 12, 2025. (AFP)

Apple's main India suppliers Foxconn and Tata shipped nearly $2 billion worth of iPhones to the United States in March, an all-time high, as the US company airlifted devices to bypass President Donald Trump's impending tariffs, customs data shows.

The smartphone maker stepped up production in India and chartered cargo flights to ferry 600 tons of iPhones to the United States to ensure sufficient inventory in one of its biggest markets on concern Trump's tariffs would push up costs.

In April, the US administration imposed 26% duties on imports from India, much lower than the more than 100% China was facing at the time. Trump has since paused most duties, except for China for three months.

Foxconn, Apple's main India supplier, exported smartphones worth $1.31 billion in March, its highest ever for a single month and equal to shipments for January and February combined, according to commercially available customs data reviewed by Reuters.

This included Apple iPhone 13, 14, 16 and 16e models, and took Foxconn's total shipments from India to the United States this year to $5.3 billion.

Exports from Tata Electronics, another Apple supplier, stood at $612 million in March, around 63% higher than the previous month, and included iPhone 15 and 16 models.

Apple, Foxconn and Tata did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Reuters is the first to report the shipment details.

Customs data showed all Foxconn shipments to the United States in March were by air from the Chennai Air Cargo terminal, and landed at various locations, including Los Angeles and New York, with Chicago receiving the majority.

Trump later granted exclusions from steep tariffs on smartphones and some other electronics imported largely from China, but later indicated that those exemptions will likely be short-lived.

To expedite shipments, Apple lobbied Indian airport authorities to cut the time needed to clear customs at Chennai airport in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, to six hours down from 30 hours.

At least six cargo jets were used in the operation which one source described was a way to "beat the tariffs".